The shadowy creature turned around to face Lainey, and it was exactly what Ulrich thought of the guy. At least eight feet tall, light purple skin, with neon green eyes. Wearing some kind of leather.
"Excuse me?" it asked, in a gruff, aggressive tone that Ulrich couldn't place.
"Hello." Vivian started, seemingly unfazed by any of it.
"Ah, yes. Hello." He replied to her, specifically. "Anything I can do?"
Wait, this thing was polite? This was a bald, light-purple, eight-foot-tall overlord of demons and he's polite? That sure is…something.
"Y-yeah, we have a request." Gene said, trying to sound threatening, but clearly sweating. Going right up to this demonic character and unsheathing his sword.
"Stop the demons. Stop everything." He closed his eyes, and then let out the loudest yell Ulrich heard from anyone, let alone him.
"Stop your rampage and get the hell away from this world!" And with that burst of energy, he leapt forward, sword in hand, and stuck it directly into the general, chest, some crimson blood leaking from his black shirt.
The creature looked at Gene, looked at Vivian, before bursting into laughter, with a few demons nearby at least attempting it, despite not having vocal cords.
"Wait a minute! This is his best attempt! Oh, how he's fallen, right, Vivian?"
Ulrich shot a look at Vivian. "Wait, you know this guy?"
"I don't, I am but a descendant of the Vivian who fought him so many years ago."
"Well then, miss descendant, you can be sure to say hi to her! Tell her Komo sent you!"
He grabbed Gene's sword, took it out of his body without even flinching, and threw him against the wall, causing Vivian to jump into action, shooting multiple ice shots directly into his eyes, which he ducked underneath, only to get several ice shots straight into his stomach, followed up by getting a kick straight in the head, causing him to step back for a second.
"Ah, shit! You Vivian's never seem to give up, do you? It's just like you and that brat back then!"
Vivian seemed to be more aggressive at this, coating her hands in ice, and throwing punches directly into his stomach, only for him to throw a single punch, sending her flying across the rooftop, barely picked up by Lainey.
Ulrich rushed in, dropping all the energy from his right arm into his glove. Komo flashed him a smile, and raised his hand, slamming his fist down on him. Ulrich yelled out, laying on the floor, and Komo stomped on his back a couple times for good measure, he kicked him aside, and moved on towards Lainey.
Slowly, Ulrich got up. Whatever this thing was, it clearly didn't know about humans, because from what he could tell, none of his bones were broken. He was in serious pain, yes. But he was alive.
And the best part of all this, the energy was still in his hand. So hot, it was kind of burning him. He saw Komo moving towards Lainey, desperately shaking her guitar in an attempt to bring her demon out, to no avail. When that failed, she took a pocket knife out of her jacket, stabbing him in the chest. And as the demonic sword didn't work, neither did a pocketknife.
Komo laughed, picked Lainey's terrified body off the ground, throwing her at the door. Komo was about to charge at her, but Ulrich ran in, eyes closed, and just as he went up to him, all the sensation in his legs just…seemed to leave him. And right as he was about to unleash his attack, he tripped over, and the heat was gone. He opened his eyes, and then the screaming kicked into his ears.
Komo had a big burn mark on his right leg. He struggled to get up for a minute, before making an exhausted grunting noise, forcing himself back up, his eyes flaring up with genuine anger.
"Well, good to see those little gloves are still around. But you see, I've been told to retrieve any of those I come across. So, y'know, sorry it had to come to this." He muttered to himself, cracking his knuckles.
"Excuse me? Told?" Gene yelled out. "Told by who?"
"The boss, kid."
Ulrich took a step back.
Lainey looked like her heart just exploded.
Gene's eyes widened in pure distress.
Vivian looked both disgusted and mortified.
Komo himself took a second to realize what he just said, and then his eyes darted to the four small fighters.
"Alright, alright." His voice started panicked, but quickly became as nonchalant as usual. "I just made a quick mistake. Small mistake, you know? Who here hasn't done that?"
He sounded like he was about to make a point, but he didn't finish, just once again charging like a bull into Gene, rapidly stomping on him once again, but unlike with Ulrich, various cracking noises could definitely be heard.
Was this it? Ulrich thought to himself. Vivian rushed in to stop him, and Lainey was trying to get her demon out of his guitar, while he just…stood there.
On some level, this was kind of the goal. Getting rid of Gene and solving all of this himself. His moment of glory. And there it was.
"U-Ulrich!?" Gene screamed out.
Suddenly, Ulrich snapped out of place, his left arm seeming to be filled with energy by itself. He went over to Komo, dragging his right arm with him. Vivian was blocking his attacks, looking more worn out by the second. And when Ulrich got up to Komo's back, he coiled his hand back, punched as hard as he could, and heard the largest explosion he made so far, alongside the loudest scream he ever had someone make.
Vivian looked at Ulrich, before immediately throwing up just beside Komo.
"Are you…okay?" Ulrich asked. His arms at this point were completely numb.
"I'll…be fine. Look, the portals still open, so he's still alive. You able to fight?"
"No?" Ulrich screamed out. "You?"
"I should be able to, once I get some water. Tell me, can you run?"
Ulrich meekly nodded.
"Okay, so I'll need you to do something for me. First, I need you to run to the outskirts of this place, as the new girl just arrived."
Ulrich nodded, making his way towards the door, and it took all the strength in his right hand just to open it, and he ran for it.
Once he left the apartment building, he ran towards their starting place, desperately trying to avoid any demons he ran into. Several demons kept giving chase, and he couldn't see Bart or Dominic anywhere. He saw Bart's car, and tried to give one last sprint over to it. But one of the demons following him gave a final leap over, and it's claws dug right into his back.
Wait, was this it? It…was. This was how he died. He shut his eyes, braced for the final impact, wishing, hoping, that the rest make it. Wishing how he could be there when Lainey and Gene won, and wishing that…he wasn't such a dick. That he could apologise for this whole 'spite Gene' thing. But he couldn't do any of that. And so, he waited.
"Uh, hey. You…dead?"
Ulrich opened his eyes, and there was a woman standing over him, wearing what looked like a light green sundress and sunhat. Her voice sounded surprisingly calm, and she picked him up, putting him on her back, carrying him back to Bart's car.
Bart was behind the wheel, and Dominic was in the back. Both of them looked absolutely destroyed, with both having dried blood all over their faces and clothes. The girl gently placed Ulrich next to Dominic, who looked over and softly smiled to himself.
"I'll be about half an hour; you guys okay with that?" The girl asked.
"Yeah, we can hold out until then." Dominic wearily replied.
Once she left, Ulrich turned to Dominic.
"How'd you do?"
"Better than him, anyway." Dominic responded, while bleeding from his mouth. "So what now?"
"We wait half an hour." Bart interrupted wearily "Nothing else is possible."