Basil and Boota had only seen Kou's other form during the uprising of the viels but it wasn't this complex. During that time, Kou was pushed to the edge and was forced to transform. His transformation drove half of the viels away and those who remained did fairly well to combat their general but only because Kou didn't want to kill the beings who he considered as his family. Nearly all of the viels were injured yet none were slaughtered. The war went on for three days, leaving the City of El'Azar in ruins.
The viels fled momentarily. When Kou transformed back, he was assaulted by citizens who remained in El'Azar. He didn't fight back nor did he explain himself.
'You freaks destroyed our city! Why don't you just rot in Sheol?!'
They threw rocks at him.
'Get him! This is our chance to avenge Her Majesty the Queen!'
They tore through his flesh using their knives and pitchforks.
'Don't let him escape! Don't let him live! He's only the king's dog. The king will not weep for him.'
They nailed him against a wall, spitting on him. Kou's head was down as the scent of urine visited his strong sense of smell and the warmth of the urine from another person soaked his pants. They sneered at him. Kou's blood dribbled from the tips of his boots and from the edges of his torn skin. They were proud of the art they created using the brushes of their vitriolic outrage to bring comeuppance to one of the victims of their idolized queen.
'Oi, why don't you say something? Surely you want to get us back? Why don't you bite my hand off? Do it, I dare you!' One of the men mocked, pushing his dirt-covered hand against Kou's busted lip. The viel's face remained composed.
'My king told me not to pick on the weak.'
The locals' thrilled expressions were wounded. The hand that was pushing against Kou's face became a fist that was flung on his cheek.
'This thing needs to be taught a less–'
A scream erupted that caused the crowd to flee like ants away from a woman who was one of the spectators. Her chest had exploded. A neonate peeked through the hole it made in her chest with smiling eyes.
'Peek-a-boo!' Its giggle conjured shivers before the sounds of joy were overpowered by the sounds of panic.
'Run! Save yourselves!' Kou yelled, yanking his hands off the nails that bound him against the wall. More neonates emerged from various human flesh. The skies darkened from the flock of juveniles that hovered above the city. Fledgelings came from different directions, already holding prized possessions that still dripped with blood.
Basil returned upon seeing the juveniles rushing to El'Azar and with Boota telling him that Kou was attacked by the humans. Kou protected his tormentors–to Basil's annoyance–and even requested the serpent to help him evacuate the locals.
'Stupid moron! Did they bash your head so hard that you forgot what they did to you?!'
Kou's wounds managed to close. He was still weakened from the transformation but he couldn't afford to rest yet until he knew that every human was rescued.
'It's not their fault, Basil. They are scared of Kou and it is what Kou deserves after he hurt his family."
Basil could still feel the stinging guilt in his heart from remembering that memory. Family? Did any of the viels feel the same connection that Kou showed to them? Everyone went through the same pain. They all lost the same things yet not everyone gained the same insight Kou got. They all wanted justice. They all wanted answers to the question "Why?"
Why did they have to go through those things?
Why did they have to lose so much?
Why did they have to lose their humanity?
No one was to blame but humanity's greed. Their unending thirst that could only be temporarily quenched went beyond earthly domains.
More, more, more…everybody wanted more.
More deaths, more sacrifices, and more pain.
"Kou…" Basil murmured. 'I'm sorry for abandoning you.' He never had the guts to say it.
He never had the bravery to apologize upfront. He ran away, forever blaming his best friend for the mare's nest in his life. Did any of the viels think the same way? Basil kept eating. He grew and grew for the past centuries and never truly felt satiated. His stomach was an endless pit. No matter how sick he was to the stomach, he continued to gorb food to fill what cannot be filled nor relieved.
The colossal white wolf that was armored with pink scales howled, causing a long line of ringing in their ears. Its pair of wings were different in form: one feathered and glowing ethereally while the other was a demon's wing that burned with green eternal fire. Black horns pierced in between its two metallic ears. Spiny vertebrae ran along the line of its spine and tail. Green flames smoldered its reptile appendages that resembled a dragon's. Various roars responded to its howl. Wolf zombies leaped out from the holes of Sheol. The gigantic demon released a green beam of burning light from its mouth, destroying the surrounding trees.
"We should leave, master! It's too dangerous here!" Gaku screamed.
Karma stared at the translucent barrier that trapped them in the forest. It would glisten every now and then just to remind them that the game was still on.
"If we leave, how do we know we won't get killed for not finishing the game?" Karma queried.
Gaku's nose flared. "Hmph! We finished the game. This is just a ploy to get us to stay here until the sun rises!"
"A devil won't let you out of its grasp just because you won," Salem reminded. They would pull every dirty trick out of the book. In order to survive, they should play as dirty as them. Though most of the time playing dirty is what they like for things to backfire. They would bring out the best demons inside of everyone.
Salem grabbed Karma, sensing something coming. The mimic of Kou spun, creating a whirlwind as sharp as the Reaper's scythe that seared with Sheol's flames. Boota had the same eerie feeling that he had to blow away Basil and Gaku by summoning a strong zephyr. He then conjured his shield that broke in half yet performed its purpose of keeping him in one piece.
"Boota, go and keep Kou safe. I'll handle this!" Basil shouted, breaking off two branches from one of the unfortunate trees that had collapsed on the floor.
"You're too confident, you can't handle this alone!"
Basil's eyes hardened. "I can. This time, I won't leave him."
Boota quieted. He didn't want to partake in any war or squabble as he had enough of it. However, their fates were tangled on this from the start. Did running and hiding do any of him good?
The angel's lips curled. "Gaku."
Gaku straightened up. "Yes, master?"
"Let's not let this idiot screw this up."
Gaku inclined his head with a solemn face. "As you wish, master!"
Salem had started swinging his umbrella, hitting the wolves effectively as if he was merely strolling in his farm. Karma walked behind him, taking leisure in his master's shadows.
"You go on ahead, we feeble humans shall support in the background."
Basil and Boota nodded, springing up with Boota higher than the beast's height due to the aid of his wings. He helped Basil get higher from the ground with blows of winds. The demon spun once more but the whirlwind was seized with Boota's immediate barrier that shattered from receiving the attacks. Lighting the sticks to the demon's demonic wing, Basil landed safely on the demon's back, kicking down a despairing shadow that attempted to crawl out from the scale.
"How do you like that? I've honed your friend's abilities by bringing a taste of hell with me!" it boasted as more of those shadows crawled out and flocked towards Basil's way. Some of them spilled off its back, giving Salem more grass to maul. Claws came down on Basil left and right.
"What were you planning on doing?!" Boota questioned, dodging the malleable shadows that grew a pair of wings and started attacking him in the skies.
"I need some space to run!" Basil answered.
Boota clicked his tongue. "If you just wanted to jog on a demon's back I shouldn't have agreed to help you!"
Basil was equally annoyed. "Just trust me!"
'Damn snake!' the doctor thought. "Gaku! Shake those things off of its back!"
"Will do, master!"
The eel screamed, creating vibrations on the ground that made the shadows lose their balance. Boota lent his hand by diving down and shoving away the shadows with his halberd.
More of them grabbed Basil's feet, making him fall face flat on the demon's back. The shadows continued to wail, creating an orchestra of despaired cries.
"Useless skinny legs!" Basil wheezed. Boota sliced off the hands but their grip left a black mark on Basil's ankles that bled out. Maggots squirmed on the fresh curse. Boota lifted Basil off, rescuing him from getting more curses.
"We can't do this here!"
"Just give me a chance!" Basil shouted.
As soon as they were off, Salem took the chance to take their place. He stood still on the demon's back, observing the screaming tortured souls that had blackened from agony.
He swirled his umbrella around before fanning it out in front of his knees.
"God's chore."
A white smog clouded out of Salem's feet, turning the souls into irrecoverable ashes. Boota flew over the burning wing of the demon, helping Basil relit the fire that burned out from all the fighting.
"Feeble, huh?" Boota questioned.
The copycat growled, setting the entire forest in wildfire, blasting beams from its mouth and releasing poisonous vapors from its nostrils that decayed the nearby plants and killed off the animals.
Karma and Gaku were against each other's backs, (technically, Gaku was against Karma's legs) dealing with the shadows that fell off along with the wolves that kept sprouting from the ground.
The demon fluttered its wings, hurling waves of blistering and lacerating winds. Salem flew off the demon's back, opening his umbrella just in time to protect Karma and Gaku from becoming burnt and sliced meat. A dark orb radiating immense destruction formed in front of the demon's horns, pointing where Hiraeth is.
"Go for it, Basil!!!" Boota screamed, soaring in front of the ball just in time for it to be released.
Armored with his shield, Boota clashed against the growing ball.
"BOOTA!!!!" Basil growled, dashing forward and holding the two burning sticks.
His speed created a screen of white image that maintained existence despite his advancement. A giant serpent appeared atop the wolf and slithered around it, successfully binding the creature of hell down like an unfortunate prey. A boom of lightning resonated and the black revolving orb detonated, generating a massive oscillation of hot currents of air that burned their lungs as if they ran more than they should. Salem had staked his umbrella to the floor as he stood through the currents while Gaku and Karma clung to him. Thunder rippled within the smog of dust and the screen of smoke. The forest continued to burn.
"Master! Master!!!!" Gaku screamed, not knowing if his master survived that attack.
'That ball should have done more damage…Was it that weak?' Salem thought.
The serpent still pinned the wolf to the floor. The smoke lessened yet it was proving more difficult to breathe. Boota regained consciousness, still intact. He was expecting to be in the afterlife after recklessly charging to take on that big shitty ball.
There was a loud burp. He opened his eyes, turning his head to the side, seeing bandages being unfurled to the ground. His eyes widened.
"Impossible…how are you healed already?"