'Sometimes, monsters exist within us and not outside,' Odagiri Ikuto thought as he walked through the ruins of what was once Sector Sixty-Eight. His usually calm face was pulled into a disgusted grimace, crunching his nose whenever he walked past lifeless bodies.
Wherever he went, and wherever he looked at all he could smell was burnt flesh, chemicals raging in the air, and bodies lying above each other or they were simply scattered on the ground as if they were nothing more than simple trash abandoned by the Emperor's Peace Patrols. Smoke burned his black eyes, causing him to blink several times.
It wouldn't be his first time to witness a scene like this, he'd been part of the Emperor's army for a few years before something within Ikuto snapped and he disappeared from his position. He'd seen what was done, under the Emperor's name, and while he knew that half of the time the man himself had no idea until it was too late - Ikuto couldn't help but detest the man.
He wanted to drag the Emperor down from his throne and show him what his men have done to their country - to his own people. Ikuto had seen his loved ones losing their minds, all because of something the Peace Patrols did. He refused to let it happen, again.
"Fuck," Ando Tsubasa said, and Ikuto couldn't agree more. Ikuto's black eyes glanced at his right-hand man, who was frowning, cursing, and running a hand through his brown hair. Repeatedly.
Ando looked more distraught, more unsettled, than Ikuto himself felt.
His shirt peeked out from his pants, half tucked in, and looked like he hadn't put much effort into his appearance. There were dark circles under Ando's light eyes. Lack of sleep, Ikuto knew that his friend has been working without proper rest for nearly seventy-two hours straight.
He didn't know the exact details as of what Ando's been doing nor did he want to know, but it didn't mean he wasn't worried.
Ikuto watched him kicking an abandoned helmet to somewhere they couldn't see, observing his oldest friend. It landed with a loud thud that left a lasting echo. Somewhere, a dog cried out at the loss of its master. And a building came down with a loud crash.
Ikuto's eyes glanced at the ominous-looking sky, which was painted by the colors of blood.
Behind him were a pack of crows, greedily eating their prey. A bird squawked before the whole pack scattered up towards the sky, feeling the presence of something bad lurking in the darkness. And even though, Ikuto couldn't see it - he knew it to be a demon. The atmosphere had changed into something more suffocating than it had been a second ago.
Ando Tsubasa had once called him incredibly lucky to not have the ability to see past the layers surrounding their shitty world, that he could easily live in a normal world and pretend that the world hadn't gone shit. If he wanted. Ando had even added that Ikuto could probably get a house somewhere and raise a family, away from their everyday horrors.
Ikuto didn't agree with that statement.
Because in his mind, he needed to see past the layers to make his own job easier, to allow Ikuto to walk around without wondering if there were demons around. He could sense them, yes. But he couldn't see them.
And that in Ikuto's eyes was a problem.
It hindered his work - didn't let him go somewhere alone, all because of the paranoia higher-ups had, fearing he could be killed without sufficient support. Apparently, he was too valuable for them to accidentally get killed by a demon he couldn't see.
Even more, since it was a widely known fact that Odagiri Ikuto couldn't see the Creatures of the Night, but it didn't render him powerless. He had his own special strength, and that was understanding how human minds worked.
That's what made him so valuable to the Leader. His tenacity to never give up and ability to know how things worked.
"Yeah, fuck," Ikuto said, stopping in front of what was once a school considering the number of children laying on the ground.
"You reckon it's like this everywhere?" Ando's voice choked over the words coming out of his mouth, Ikuto could hear his friend following him.
Ando Tsubasa was, perhaps, the only person left he trusted.
Completely.
But that didn't mean he couldn't call Ando out on his bullshit or know when he was scared. Still, it was one of the main reasons why the two were often paired up. Sometimes, they'd have a third member to tag along if they didn't have anything better to do.
"Most likely," he said, feeling eyes on him. "You know just as well as I do that when Peace Patrols are sent out, they do a clean job. No survivors, nothing but ashes are left behind. A mere memory that can no longer be spun."
"It doesn't feel like Peace Patrol's job, though," Ikuto and Ando glanced at the third member of their little party, Taguchi Nanako stood there, looking at the scene before them with similar expression the boys wore.
Her red hair was pulled up in a ponytail, revealing several piercings on her ears, each in a different size and shape. The biggest was two skulls resting in the middle of her ears, tangling with a cross at its tail, and the smallest several simple golden studs. There was a tattoo running down Nanako's neck, part of it hidden by her collared blouse.
The woman looked petite and harmless, however, the boys knew more than anyone how tough Nanako really was. The bloody woman had no problems taking on jobs no one else wanted or was willing to risk their lives for. It had been Nanako, who called the Revolutionary Army and told them what happened here. Ikuto didn't know how she always managed to survive without having special training like he and Ando did, but he was glad for it.
Because losing someone like Taguchi Nanako wasn't an option. Ikuto needed someone with her smarts around, mostly because it was better than dealing with only Ando, who could be more annoying and irritating than a five-year-old kid.
"Why?" Ando asked, sitting on a larger clean-looking rock that wasn't surrounded by bodies. It'd once been a part of a building, but Ikuto couldn't tell what had been there.
"The bodies," Ikuto answered, looking around, noticing the way they laid there. "It's like they were dead before the bombing," he added, and just like that, his stomach felt heavier.
Nanako nodded, she'd knelt in front of a burnt body, moving it in the way a coroner would with a dead body. Before joining the Revolutionary Army, Ikuto knew her to have worked with Peace Patrols. To be more specific, her specialty was dead.
"Considering the world we live in," she said, pausing in her investigation upon noticing a certain mark on the victim's neck. She pulled down the shirt's collar, causing it to grumble into pieces thus revealing a certain symbol both Ikuto and Ando were more than familiar with.
"I'd say it's the work of magic."
Ando's body straightened, leaning forward with sudden interest.
"Including the bombing?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," she nodded, looking disgusted. She stood up, wiped her hands, and placed them in the pockets of her leather jacket. Her golden hair tie sparkled back. "It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened."
"You mean that guy from Howling Aquilo - Ran, was it?"
Ikuto looked around, thoughtfully, as he recalled the scene Howling Aquilo's Ran had left behind after the devastation. It looked similar, way too similar. However…he'd ran into the man and knew him not to be the type, who would kill innocents.
Ikuto had seen Ran battling S-class demon, and at that moment, he'd found himself wishing that the guy was on their side. He'd watched, from a safe distance, the manner Ran moved and fought all while protecting innocents.
"It's not his style," he denied, shaking his head. "I've seen them fighting, plus Howling Aquilo members don't kill innocents."
"You haven't seen Fu then," Ando said, picking up a nearby rock and threw it into a distance. He watched it land with a small whistle, making a crazy gesture around his head, "I mean, everyone knows that Fu's an alcoholic sociopath, who finds pleasure in killing. He'd have no qualms doing it."
"Or maybe that's exactly what they want you to think," Nanako suddenly said, blinking as something dawned on her. "Doesn't Emperor have his own squad consisting of magicians?"
Ando blew a raspberry, "The Sinners." His distaste was evident. "I never understood why they're called like that," Ando shrugged.
"Cause they're all criminals who didn't make the cut into Haruse's Howling Aquilo," Ikuto responded, gaining surprised looks from both Ando and Nanako. "Haruse's smart, he knew whom he wanted to pick, despite the members being as dysfunctional as they are."
"…Which makes them so much more dangerous, doesn't it?" Nanako asked, pulling out her favorite pack of cigarettes. Ikuto watched, fascinated, as her index finger light up as it lit the cigarette.
"Yes," he replied, as he turned around to stare at the tragedy before him.
Ikuto didn't like what this scene before him implied. Not at all. Or what it forced him to do, reaching out to the last person he wanted to see. He pursed his lips, frowning.
"Shit, I don't like the look on your face, Ikuto," Ando groaned, dragging a hand through his hair, unwillingly getting up from his position on the rock.
Ikuto glanced at his right-hand man.
"Nothing's ever gone well whenever you've had that look on!" He pointed an accusing finger at now grinning Ikuto. Ando's eyes widened in disbelief before he turned to Nanako for help.
"Am I missing something?"
"Yes!"
"No, he's simply over-reacting."
"Argh! I'm not gonna be responsible, ya hear me!?"
Ikuto merely chuckled, watching Ando throwing a tantrum, who most likely had a pretty good idea of what was running through his mind. Ando could try and talk him out of it, but Ikuto knew he didn't have a choice but to do it.
If the destruction of Sector Sixty-Eight was merely the start of something big, as Ikuto suspected, then they needed all the help they could, even if it meant turning to the strongest sorcerer…who was also the last person alive he wanted to see, especially once he recalled how they'd parted ways all those years ago.