Getting to Fen's house is a lot easier than expected.
With the announcement that no one is to go out, the streets are completely deserted, so even if the house is located in the westernmost zone, there is no one to stop Kit from heading over.
The door to the house is ajar. All the lights inside appear to be turned off. It's like the whole place is holding its breath, waiting for what comes next. But when Kit steps into the house, he's not expecting the putrid smell that immediately greets him.
He finds the first corpse only a few steps in. It's the housekeeper that had greeted them when he came over with Fluorite the other day. There's a hole right in the middle of her forehead, her eyes are still open, a vacant look behind them. But her flesh has already started to rot, maggots crawling over the body. This must be an effect of evil energy. It is so thick in the air Kit can almost imagine touching it.
The farther he goes into the house, he finds more corpses, all in a similar state to the first one. Some of them have been pierced through the head, other through the chest or abdomen, others are missing limbs or even entire chunks. But they are all rotting already, even if the blood around still is relatively fresh. This was the power a high-ranking demon held.
Kit goes up to the second floor and upon reaching the top of the staircase, he sees the one room with the door open. The hallway outside of it has its light turned on. That must be the room where Fen is.
He tries to approach as quietly as possible, but just as he's about to push the door open, a voice stops him.
"You really did come."
Kit stays paralyzed. His blood has gone cold, goosebumps rising all over his skin. Slowly, so slowly he can hear the clock ticking the seconds by, Kit turns back to be faced with Aki.
He looks the same as always, except there are splatters of blood all over him. His usually neutral expression is now tinted by a mad glint behind his eyes. His eyes are now completely black. And the air around him has completely changed too. He's no longer bothering to hide his true nature, and the evil energy rolls off him in waves.
"I admit, I would have been disappointed if you hadn't." Aki walks languidly towards Kit. He doesn't seem a bit bothered by the carnage surrounding them. And why should he, if he was the one to cause it?
"You-" Kit's mouth has gone completely dry. He can barely stand up, his whole body trembling. "Where's Fen?"
He arches an eyebrow coolly. "What is it to you?"
Kit opens his mouth but no sound comes out. Is he… Has he come too late? Could Fen-
The corner of Aki's mouth curls up slightly. "Relax. That snot-nosed brat is not dead. Yet. I've just dropped him off somewhere nice. Letting him put himself into another's shoes for once."
He's dropped Fen off at the forest, Kit realises. He lets out a relieved sigh inwardly.
"But you," Aki sneers, "simply don't know when not to stick in your nose. Why can't you just die already, you cockroach of a human!"
As Aki approaches him more, Kit starts inching backwards. More than once, he almost trips and falls, but he manages to stay standing.
"You know," Aki continues talking, "I was planning on killing you that day, but I really wasn't counting on a third person coming along, or that you would manage to figure out how that array worked. Oh well, guess I underestimated you. And now, you had to live through everything. How easy it would have been if you had only laid down and died!"
That day… The day it all started. The first time they had encountered a demonic creature. The one that had been killing the livestock…
One by one, the pieces start falling into place. Of course, of course it all makes so much sense now. How could they have been so stupid? The livestock the demonic creature had targeted were those belonging to Integral Meats. The warehouse too. And the one person who had disappeared on the day of the blood rain, it was the [chairman] of the company. From the beginning, it had all been part of a plan. It was so obvious now, looking back on it.
Aki must see the realisation dawning on Kit's face because he lets out a huff of laughter."You heard everything, so you know what happened." The child from the story, there is no doubt now; it was Aki. "So, tell me, who is the real demon here? Can you confidently say that they too, were not devils in their own right? People like them; someone who is so willing to go to such lengths and do such horrible things for something so trivial as money and power, can they really be considered worthy of being alive? Isn't it a good thing that they're dead? Revenge. Divine punishment. Call it what you will. But you know they had it coming one way or another. It just so happens, their punishment came in the form of me."
"But all those other people—"
"Collateral damage," he answers coldly. Doesn't even bat an eye.
Kit feels himself tremble. How can he disregard all those lives like that? Do they really mean nothing to him? "You…"
"Evil? You want to call me evil?" the demon bursts out laughing. "Go on, say it. See if I care."
Kit stays quiet.
"You think I did all of this to prove some point? That I care about any of this bullshit?" He throws his head back. "Don't make me laugh!"
"Then… Why? Why… All of this?"
"Why what? You think I'm horrible, no? You think I've caused you a lot of trouble? Hmph." He clicks his tongue. "A favour is what I did to all of you. Shouldn't you be calling me a hero and praising me? Think about if you'd had to deal with the destruction-crazed idiot. Me? I'm not so ambitious. I have more humble aspirations." He smiles, showing all his teeth. "You know who killed the old guy back in the forest?"
Kit doesn't answer.
"Yes, that's right. I killed them. 'How horrible' you might be thinking. After they raised me and taught me everything they knew… Ha! But isn't that just the kind of monster I am?! Biting the hand that feeds you, no?"
Kit tries to inch backwards, but he finds his back has hit the wall. There is nowhere else to go; he's completely cornered.
"Hm, still, they were a fool. 'Destroy the world…' What an idiotic dream. Who cares? This world with you humans isn't even worth that effort. So they had to go. Would only have gotten in the way otherwise." Aki puts on his madman smile. "But you know what the old man said right before I killed them? 'Xenon'." He laughs. "Can you imagine? My name: Xenon. Foreigner. For the first time in my life, I knew my real name. How cruel, don't you think? How cruel, how cruel." He laughs again, a crazed sound. "Even after 24 years of being alive, there will never be a single place for me! Xenon, cursed to be forever an outsider! HAHAHAHA, how cruel, HOW CRUEL!" His eyes go bloodshot, and in a split second, his voice has turned into a snarl. But just as quickly, he's back under control. "Still," his voice is quieter now, "it really was a shame that shapeshifter kid just had to walk by at that exact moment."
Shapeshifter… Dee!
Kit feels time slow down right then and there. Dee… She had gone to the forest. She must have-
Kit remembers having read somewhere that the higher ranking demons and angels were able to infiltrate society by hiding their "true form" and passing off as humans. But if someone were to see this true form, they would go mad. Their brain simply wouldn't be able to handle it and in a self preservation strategy, the person would go insane.
So Dee must have…
He doesn't want to imagine it. He feels like throwing up.
After seeing a demon's true form there was simply no going back. No cure.
"Dee…" Kit holds on to the wall, trying to keep himself up. "You… So it was your fault…"
Aki— no, Kit corrects himself, Xenon doesn't acknowledge his words.
Kit speaks again, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice, "You say they were also evil, and I won't say they should have been left without punishment, but you… Why did you have to do it? No, I won't defend them or say it wasn't deserved, but I can't forgive what you have done either. All those innocent people, they had nothing to do with any of this, so why? Why involve them? You are just as horrible as them. To kill them so heartlessly… I just can't forgive that."
"Who wants your forgiveness?" Xenon sneers. "Demons, humans, the hatred between them is something that has existed since the beginning of time. If you think about it that way, what is there to mourn?"
"But you're human too!"
"Don't lump me in with the likes of them. Besides, it was simply fate, there was no way anything could have stopped it."
He feels himself starting to grow angry. "Fate? Don't try to use that flimsy excuse! You keep trying to shift the blame onto someone else, but that's not true! You chose this! You decided your own fate! You could have chosen to walk away, leave all of this behind and forget about it." Ah, that's right, he suddenly thinks, I had forgotten that too. All this time, hadn't he been doing the same thing? There was still a part of him that had been chasing after that childhood dream. To be a hero. But he didn't need that. He could turn away from it. He could live his own life too. He feels his resolve harden, and he stands up straighter. His right hand goes to his coat pocket where he's kept some explosive seals. "You don't have to carry the burdens imposed on you for your whole life. You are not bound by fate. You can be the catalyst for your own destiny!" He whips out 3 seals and throws them at Aki. Already infused with his magical energy, they detonate one after the other.
Clearly not expecting this, Xenon doesn't evade them, and they hit him head on. Kit sees him stagger backwards. Taking advantage of the smoke that hasn't cleared yet, Kit dashes past, heading for the stairs and running down them as fast as he can. He makes his way across twisting hallways, until finally, he sees a light. It's dim, but it's there and he rushes towards it.
It's the door that leads to the backyard. Kit pushes it open, and finally he's out of the house. Still he keeps running until the house has been left a few metres behind.
Finally, he stops and takes in a deep breath to clear his head. Think. He has to think what to do next.
He's not naive enough to think those seals could have done a demon in, but they should have done considerable damage, giving him at least an hour—
"You really are extremely bothersome!" Xenon walks out of the house. Almost half of his face is missing and there's blood running down a hole in his chest where one of the seals must have gotten him.
Kit watches, horrified, as the muscle and skin regenerate, smoke rising from the wounds. But Xenon doesn't seem the slightest bit fazed by any of this. He shows no signs of pain and continues walking like normal. Just how powerful is he? Even in his human form, the seals have done basically nothing.
"Didn't think you had the balls to pull a stunt like that!" His eyes go bloodshot again, but this time he makes no effort to control it. His teeth turn into fangs and his fingers become sharp, black claws. "But it doesn't matter! I'll kill you now, you insolent pest!"
Xenon walks menacingly towards him. Unconsciously, Kit takes a step backwards, but his foot catches on something, perhaps an upturned root or a clump of dirt, perhaps nothing, and he trips, falling flat on his back. He scrambles, frantically trying to get away, but it's no use. There is no running away now.
Xenon raises an arm, a black, writhing mass gathering at his palm. The temperature around them drops several degrees, to the point a thin layer of frost starts to form on the grass. Kit closes his eyes, bracing himself for the final blow.
But it never comes.
Instead, a blazing heat envelops him. When Kit opens his eyes, there is a wall of fire around him. And standing there before him is-
"Baz?" He almost can't believe it. Doesn't believe it. He has his back turned, but Kit is sure of it. There is no way he would be mistaken. It's Baz. But… How is he here? "What–"
"Forgive me." Baz turns to face Kit. His expression is serious, more serious that Kit has ever seen him. "I probably shouldn't have done that. I just jumped in without thinking."
"What are you–"
"We should probably run right now," Baz helps Kit stand up, "since I doubt that will hold it back for too long." He grabs Kit's arm and starts running, dragging him behind.
"Baz–!" Kit has to shout to try and be heard. "What-?! Where are you going?!"
"The forest!"
"WHAT?! Are you insane?!"
"Maybe!" Baz keeps running, showing no signs of stopping. "But I figured we should at least try to make a half-decent last stand!"
"In the forest?!" If anything, they would be at a disadvantage in there. Xenon grew up in the forest, so he must know that place like the back of his hand, no? Besides, he's a magical creature. So even if Baz doesn't know about the first detail, he must be aware that in the Forest of Mist, the ones most likely to die would be them. Just what is Baz thinking?
"I´ll explain once we get there! Hold on, it's just a bit further on!"