It took only a few hours for Korrozak to spot the next town. It was located on the border between the prairie and another forest. By then, it was almost dawn and he had calmed down a bit. He landed a good ways away from the city entrance and walked the rest of the way. The sun began to rise as he walked through the entrance. The town was really rundown and old fashioned wild-west like. All the houses were made of wood, the road was just dirt, the stores were just stalls and the people were all in ragged clothing. The town was so small Korrozak could see the exit on the other side of the town from the entrance. Posters of him were plastered everywhere. He pulled his hood over his head and a cloth mask over his mouth and nose before he walked to the nearest stall that was selling fruit. He pulled the little money he had left out of his pocket and held it out for the person managing the stall to see.
"What could I get with this much?" Korrozak asked.
"One apple and two oranges." the shopkeeper offered.
"I'll take it." Korrozak picked out an apple and two oranges then handed the money over to the shopkeeper. He put the food in his bag and headed for the exit. He didn't want to stay long for fear of being caught.
"Hold on a minute." the shopkeeper called. Korrozak froze in place and slowly turned around a little, nervous.
"I already paid the money we agreed on. If you miscalculated how much this food was worth, that's your loss." Korrozak assumed.
"No, it's not about the food. I just feel like I've seen you somewhere before..." the shopkeeper trailed.
"I can assure you, this is my first time in this town so I doubt we would've met prior to my coming here." Korrozak replied.
"What's your name?" Korrozak hesitated.
"Zastaroth."
"Hmm." the shopkeeper stared at Korrozak intensely before suddenly pointing at him. "I remember now! You're the guy on the wan-!" A loud bang sounded, cutting off the shopkeeper's sentence. Korrozak turned to see a plume of smoke and dust rising from just behind the wall surrounding the town. Two army tanks were advancing on the little town. A guy in a black suit was standing on top of the tank in the front and held up a microphone horn.
"We have received word that this town is harboring a demon! We have been given permission by the DMA to demolish this village until the demon has either left or been captured. You have one minute to bring out the fugitive before we attack for real." the guy announced. Korrozak squinted at the guy in the suit and saw the badge on his shirt read 'Robin'. Robin! How'd he find me? Where did the tanks come from? How did I not notice them on my way here? I have to get out of here before the people are put in danger. The shopkeeper turned to him, fuming with anger.
"You! You're the guy in the wanted poster, right? You lied to me about your name, didn't you? Did you do this on purpose? Answer me!" he burst. Korrozak started towards the entrance.
"Thanks for the food." he whispered as he walked past the stall. Once he was a ways past the town, he pulled his hood back to reveal himself to Robin. Robin smiled as he saw Korrozak walking towards him.
"I'm surprised." he called out to Korrozak after lowering the horn. Korrozak stopped a good way away from the tanks.
"Here I am. Now leave the townspeople alone. They have nothing to do with this." he glared at Robin.
"What a scary look you've got there." Robin smiled. "Fire at the town." he ordered.
"What?" Korrozak panicked. The tank in the back fired at the village, tearing down the protective wall. "Stop! They have nothing to do with this! I'm the one you're looking for. Why are you attacking the village?" he yelled.
"I have been offered a buttload of money to make this capture as painful as possible and I intend to make that money worth it." He gave Korrozak the most sadistic grin he could imagine. He raised the horn back up to his mouth and smiled. "This person isn't a demon. We will not tolerate your resistance for long. We have planted explosives under the village. You have one last chance. Bring us the demon Korrozak or we will not hesitate to detonate the bombs and blow the town to bits." Korrozak stared up at Robin with horror. He then rushed back towards the town.
"Everyone get out!" Korrozak called as he ran towards the village. He looked back at Robin who held up a remote with a single red button in the middle. He raised his finger over the button and slowly pushed down. Korrozak turned back to the village in fear. The people were confused, standing around, worried. A few were meandering towards the exit but none had left yet. Korrozak unfolded his wings and flew towards the village. "WATCH OUT!!" Just as he made it to the entrance, he raised his right hand towards them. A purple magic circle appeared in front of his hand and he cast a barrier spell over all the people in the village as the ground lit up underneath them and the bombs went off. The explosion was massive. Korrozak was nearly knocked unconscious from the force of the explosion and the impact of him hitting the hard earth several feet away. A huge cloud of smoke covered what once was the village and slowly rose into the sky. As the dust cleared, all the people in the village were encased in a transparent purple sphere. Many of the spheres had small cracks here and there but no one was hurt. Korrozak got shakily to his feet and smiled. His right arm and the right side of his face was covered in burning skin and blood. His left arm was less damaged but still burned badly and his body was covered in bruises and scrapes. His wings drooped.
"Is... everyone... ok?" he huffed.
"Everyone but you."Before Korrozak could turn around, Robin pushed him to the ground and pinned him with his foot. Korrozak glared up at Robin with defiance. He then smiled.
"Looks like your mass murder attempt failed." he observed. Robin stared back with an icy glare that made Korrozak nervous. Robin then brought a radio to his mouth.
"Fire at the villagers." he ordered.
"B-but sir! The tanks were only brought here for intimidation purposes. Not to actually attack. If we fire, we'd be going past our restrictions."
"Just do it! They're useless anyway." he shouted. Both tanks shot at the people in the protective spheres. Robin put the radio in his pocket and grinned at Korrozak. "Now, let's see how long your magic can last. You'll need to take out your second pair soon, or the townspeople might not make it."
"Don't underestimate my magical abilities." Korrozak grunted.
"It's not the magic you should be worried about." Robin giggled. He then pulled out a pocket knife and dug it deep into Korrozak's left arm. Korrozak cried out in pain as the knife was slowly pushed deeper into his arm and then slowly taken out. He was already in pain from the explosion. Still, he clenched his teeth, closed his eyes and focused on keeping his spell together. The tanks fired again and Robin took the knife and placed it against Korrozak's right wing.
"What would you do if you lost your wing?"
"Nothing to do. It's not like it would grow back or anything." Korrozak replied through gritted teeth. He was sweating now.
"So you won't mind if I take it and sell it? How interesting!" he smiled a creepy smile that made Korrozak shiver. Robin grabbed Korrozak's wing and lifted it up to evaluate it. "Did you know that the more ragged and torn the demon wing is, the more valuable it is? It's some kind of badge of honor or something. Unfortunately, your blood isn't black so I wouldn't get much from it. A whole demon sold as a slave gets more than three demon wings and five bottles of demon blood combined! And if a true demon is put up for auction, you'll be a billionaire in no time!"
"A true demon? What's the difference?"
"There's a rumor going around that demons with three pairs of wings can access a hidden power all demons have, called the demon's true form. They can transform into horrifying monsters. That's what they used to look like before they came to earth after all. It must've been one hell of a place to live in. Probably because it was hell." Robin explained.
"You speak as if you saw them yourself. The underworld was destroyed during the Realm War between the devils and angels centuries ago."
"As I was saying, it's just a rumor. That's why it's not only rare to see one up for auction on the black market but it's so dangerous to even approach one, let alone capture one alive, that you could be considered a god."
"That seems a bit far fetched."
"You see, a demon's true form is like a safety mechanism that activates when the demon in question is about to die. When they do go into their true form, they gain tremendous power and become mindless creatures that just want to destroy everything. The power of their true forms are so strong their minds can't take it and they are reduced to killing machines. They go on a rampage until they are either killed, starved, can no longer move from exhaustion or their subconsciousness considers the environment safe again."
"How long are you going to talk?"
"Hang on, this is the best part. This is where the old demon rankings come in. Each demon is from a different family of demons. The top five strongest demon families, recognized by Satan himself, were called the Great Demon families. Since the demon lord can't have an offspring, the strongest of the Great Demon families would get to claim the throne after the demon lord's demise and be renamed Satan. Each Great family was given a color specific to that family. Any descendants of the Five Great families would be unstoppable if they unleashed their true forms."
"What does any of this have to do with me?"
"The Demon Management Association was made to specifically hunt down demons to find and destroy the descendants of the Five Great families before they unlock their true forms. However, there is one demon family that was stronger than any other family. It's called the Ash family, a family of outcast demons that went against the rules of magic and were abandoned so as to keep them from taking the throne and destroying the demon's existence. That's the family that the DMA is looking for the most." Robin explained. "Get it? The only demons that get spared and locked up instead of killed are the ones that don't belong to a Great family. As for the demons of the Great families, they are killed as soon as possible. It's so much fun to listen to the cries of the ancient families as they die out!" Robin started giggling manically. Korrozak stiffened.
"So ruthless."
"Now there is one thing I need to know... what is your last name?" Korrozak stayed silent. What if I'm from a Great Demon family? He'll kill me on the spot! "Not talking? I guess we'll just have to capture you and torture you until you talk."
"It won't be as easy as you think."
"We'll see." Robin sang. He raised the knife and swung it down on Korrozak's right wing, tearing it up. He then aimed for the base of the wing, severing it from his back. Korrozak bit his lower lip to keep from screaming as tears formed in his eyes. Robin picked up his wing and examined it with a malicious smile.
"I'll make sure to sell this for quite a hefty price." Just then, Korrozak pushed up as best as he could, throwing Robin off his back and onto the ground. He then spun around as Robin jumped up. Robin paused, then pointed at Korrozak's left eye.
"What?"
"Your eye changed color." Korrozak paused.
"And?"
"That is very unusual. I wonder why only your left eye turns red when you take out your wings... well, wing now." Robin thought aloud. "This also means that girl lied to me." Korrozak perked at that.
"Girl? What girl?"
"The girl that showed up in your apartment. She was on the floor near the counter. She had an injured leg that required crutches. She was bawling her eyes out. It took all the self control I had to keep from laughing at how pitiful she looked. I'm gonna make sure to visit her when I go over there again." Robin giggled.
"You better not touch her." Korrozak pulled out one of his swords out of thin air and prepared to attack.
"Why, is she your girlfriend?" Robin grinned eerily.
"No! She's just a friend!" Korrozak blushed from embarrassment. He readied the sword.
"I wouldn't if I were you. You still have a whole town of people to protect, remember?" he held up a finger and wagged it back and forth as another round of shots fired from the tanks. Korrozak scowled and put his sword in the sheath that appeared on his back and raised his left hand shakily. An orange magic circle appeared in front of his outstretched fingers. A ball of fire ignited in the middle of the magic circle. Korrozak aimed his hand at Robin. "Getting desperate now, are we? You're underestimating me." Korrozak smiled and shot two fireballs at Robin, who dodged them easily. Robin snickered as the fireballs flew past him.
"Perfect." Korrozak smiled.
"Are you kidding me? You missed!" Robin burst out, laughing.
"Did I?" Robin froze. Two explosions sounded behind him and he turned to see both tanks up in flames. Robin stared in disbelief as the smoke billowed up into the sky. "I don't think I missed." Robin spun around in anger to see Korrozak was gone.
"Where'd he go? Above me? Below me? Behind me? Left? Right? Is he invisible? Or... teleportation." Robin muttered. He waited patiently for Korrozak to attack but nothing happened. He growled and stomped in frustration before smiling. His phone started ringing so he calmed himself before putting his phone up to his ear. "Hello?"
"How's the hunt for the demon going?" a deep voice asked.
"I followed him to the border town, Timberford, but he managed to escape, destroying the town in the process." Robin lied. "All the people are safe but Korrozak got away."
"How unfortunate."
"I was able to confirm that he is a descendant of the Red Demon family."
"Really? That makes things even worse. We must find him as soon as possible."
"He only has two pairs of wings to my knowledge at the moment so we still have some time... It's strange though."
"What is?"
"Normally, both eyes of a Red Demon turn red but only his left eye turned red. He could be connected to them but it's still highly unlikely. Something odd is going on."
"Do you think that his mother was also a demon?"
"It's possible."
"Keep up the good work, Robin."
"Yes, sir."