Chapter 35: Lacking
No POV:
The house across them went up in flames — civilians screaming for help and running for dear life...
"ROOAAARRRR!!!"
The devil’s roar came soon after. Further amplifying their fear.
Axel stood up, ready to act. But he couldn’t believe what he saw:
Mai just sat there unbothered, stirring her latte before taking a sip.
"Uhmmm... Aren’t we supposed to... Y’know....?" He stated gesturing at the burning building.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally removed the cup from her lips.
"I’ll pass."
"What?!" He couldn’t believe his ears.
It was probably a joke... Yeah... A joke that’s what it was...
"C’mon. This isn’t a time for jokes. Let’s go."
She glared at him. An action that made Axel freeze.
He didn’t know she could look that serious.
"Does it look like I’m joking? That thing is beneath me. Why would I waste my time on that?" She sipped her latte again.
Axel furrowed his eyebrows... "Cut the crap! People will die if you don’t do something!"
"Why me? Aren’t you here? Aren’t you also a hunter? A hybrid at that. What’s stopping you from taking action...?" She replied flatly. "Hunters will be here soon anyway, what’s the rush..."
By now, the cries were getting louder. The scene painted in a red and yellow glow— the fire eating a large amount of the building.
"Tch..." Realizing that Mai really wasn’t going to do anything, he blitzed towards the flaming building.
Watching him leave, she smirked. "He’s fast..."
.
.
.
.
.
"Somebody help! There are still kids in there!"
"Arggh!"
*CRASH*
He broke through the wall and ran inside.
The house was filled with smoke. Greatly limiting visibility.
He ran across the corridor into one of the rooms.
The curtains were on fire. The walls painted with ash.
"Hades! What’s the situation?"
[There really are kids around here. Second floor]
"And the devil?"
[Low level. B rank at best. You should be able to handle it.]
The screen appeared in his view:
[Objective: Rescue children from burning building. This is a priority.]
Transforming, he lunched himself through the ceiling.
Upon reaching the second floor, the situation was worse than the previous floor. The ceiling to had completely collapsed. Leaving almost no room to walk.
*COUGH COUGH*
He ran to the direction of the sound. There, behind a shelf, two children sat hurdled next to each other... Their bodies covered in ash.
He carried the shelf off and picked the children up.
They were running out of oxygen... He had to do something.
Fast.
Carrying them, he went back to the whole he created and jumped through — looking for the fastest route out of here.
As he jumped through the air, just as he was about to land, he saw the devil responsible for this.
Time seemed to slow as the devil turned to face him...
Then,
*BOOM*
Axel, still in mid air—with no room to dodge, was shot through the building crashing violently to the ground.
[Warning: Main target detected]
His shadow arms unwrapped from around him. He had summoned it at the last second. Thankfully, the kids weren’t hurt.
’This ability is very handy’..
Allowing the children to leave his embrace, he slowly stood up and rushed back into the building not wasting even a second.
He slammed into the devil punching and sending it through the ceiling.
[You have activated phase two of Scarion]
His figure bulked, his teeth grew. The red energy swirling around him as he followed the devil.
Catching it’s head, he slammed it towards the ground. Then kicked it before following.
But just as Axel was about to follow up, the devil swung it’s arm, and an explosion followed.
Axel dodged at the last moment but the explosion tore his torso open.
"Gah—!" He stumbled back, gripping his midsection — his innards threatening to spill out.
"Hades! I thought you said I could beat this thing!" He coughed.
[You can. But you’re lacking so much in experience, it’s almost a sin!]
Dodging another explosion, he rolled to the side.
[Warning: Host has sustained serious stomach injury]
The wound was already closing up, not completely, but just enough to allow him move.
**BOOM**
Just as he stood up a deafening explosion was heard just outside the building.
Then, the building started to shake....
It was going down...
The entire first floor had been decimated. The second floor was coming down.
*CRASH*
The second floor now became the first.
Pushing a part of the ceiling off of him, Axel stumbled out.
"What.. was that?"
*BOOM*
Leaving Axel no time to think, another part of the rubble blew up, revealing the devil underneath.
It rushed at Axel but this time, he was careful.
Every swing.
Every trail of smoke...
He watched out for all of them...
He was now having the upper hand.
Or so it seemed...
He punched the devil upwards and kicked it before it could reach the ground. He rushed at the devil but it swung again, a trail of explosions following.
"Gah—!"
[Bruh!]
He had fallen for the same trick. Again.
This time the devil’s hand sank into his torso and the explosion that followed blew his stomach open.
[Warning: Host has sustained serious stomach injury. Combat compromised.]
Falling to the ground with his wounds desperating trying to heal, the devil lounged at him.
Axel manage to roll to the side — the floor blowing up in the process.
He rolled and stopped. The pain catching up to him. He glanced at the table he sat. Mai was no longer there.
She left...
"Tch..."
The devil walked over and aimed. It was about to shoot him with another explosion attack. He crawled backwards. Trying to keep his guts from falling out...
But instead, Axel heard a chime. A very out worldly sound.
Behind the devil, he could see a faint light.
Then,
**CHING**
**SPLAT**
Something tore through the devil’s side. Blood and viscera flew all over the place, splattering even on Axel.
On the side that was blown off, it took half of the body. Taking the shape of something...
Upon realization, he finally knew what it was..
A crescent moon...
Mai stood there, her index and thumb forming a circle that was placed right in front of her. She was looking through it...
It was silent.
Then suddenly a civilian spoke up.
"It’s dead! The devil is dead"
"Lady Channary saved us!"
"We’re saved!!"
The crowd cheered... The fear totally gone.
’If these fools knew what she said just moments ago, they’d definitely have a change of heart...’
Then, Mai walked towards Axel, knelt down,
And hugged him...
She hugged him, pressing her body against his...
"I’m gllad you’re okay... I was actually worried..."
There it was...
The love and care that he didn’t believe he deserved. The support he thought he would never get.
His eyes widened. His heart raced...
But wait... Wasn’t it her fault he was in this state in the first place? If she helped earlier, his guts wouldn’t be leaking out right now.
He had more than a few reasons to push her off him and yell his heart out on how reckless she was.
But he couldn’t. His emotions were scrambled. From almost being blown to bits to being comforted by a very beautiful lady.
[Bitch move...]
When she finally let go, she moved to the kids that were trapped in the building earlier and held both of them, allowing them to cry in her arms.
[Axel...]
His heart was pounding...
[Axel...]
His mind was racing...
[Axel!]
"Uhh! What?!"
[You forgot to breathe...]
"O—ohh"
Then, a civilian walked towards him and said. "Thank you so much for helping my kids."
Axel blinked. "Oh uh it’s fine. Glad they’re safe.."
Just as he said that, the two children he carried earlier walked towards him.
One of them muttered: "Th—thank you sir. I’m sorry you’re like this because of us..."
"Ohh no no it’s alright. I’m glad you’re not hurt." He smiled, making the children smile back and scurry away.
Then another civilian said, sounding a little smug..."You have proven worthy to be Lady Channary’s companion."
Axel deadpanned.."Worthy huh..."
Standing up, he inspected his injuries...
His stomach wound had closed but it still bled, his clothes were damaged. His t-shirt burnt halfway to his chest.
His jacket was in a slightly better shape but still rundown.
His trousers were in a much better state; just little holes here and there...
Mai walked back to him and gave him a gentle smile. "That was kinda easy, don’t you think?"
Axel shrugged. "I had my guts spilling out a few minutes ago so I wouldn’t know."
She spoke again. "You did good back there..."
Axel stared at her. "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Why did you refuse to help? People could have died."
Mai looked at him. Smiled, then answered:
"Well you said you were weak. I was just testing that theory..."
His eyebrows furrowed... "That ’theory’ would have cost a lot of lives."
"If I believed you when you called yourself weak and fought the devil instead, you would’ve ended up watching... So I chose to create a scenario that would force you to act, only chosing to help at the last moment... Think of this as a little training exercise." She winked.
Axel sighed, stting back down on the ground"But still....that was very risky. What if I wasn’t able to handle it?"
"Then I would have taken over. I would definitely one shot that devil."
He exhaled. "That’s true... Your power is actually terrifying."
Then his eyes widened in realization... "Were you the one that—"
"Leveled the first floor? Yup that was me. Used "Crescent Moon" She added, forming her fingers into the loop he’d seen earlier.
"I don’t know if to call it cool or scary."
Mai laughed a bit. Then sat down beside him.
By now the moon was already up in the sky, bathing the terrain in it’s ethereal light...
"Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved the moon." She started, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
"I’d study about it by day, gaze upon it by night. I never got tired of it..."
She paused for a moment, then continued: "My father had a huge library so I often went there to read about the moon. I loved how on some days, it would look full like a cookie and on other days, It would look like a part of it’s been bitten off. I always believed there was a goddess that resided there, giving the moon it’s beautiful glow and no matter how much people told me I was wrong, I didn’t care. Science be damned..."
She said, looked at the moonlit sky.
Axel could swear the moon shone slightly brighter at her statement as if agreeing with her...
"Then one day, I came across a particular book. One with weird inscriptions on it. On the first page I saw something... Something I would never be able to forget."
Axel, who was listening intently, asked. "What was is?"
She looked straight at him. Then answered. "The Moon Goddess."
"You can imagine how a happy a child like me, who, believed in such would be. So I opened it. At least I tried..."
Then in a disappointed tone, she added "Sadly, I couldn’t.
Out of desperation, I tried using different methods.
I even tried pushing the covers instead of pulling them but it was no use. Soon, I started to use tools... Pencils, pens, rulers even screwdrivers. But it was after I picked up a table knife that everything changed..."
Axel swallowed hard. "What happened?"
"I was cut by the knife due to my recklessness. The blood was everywhere..." Then after a light laugh, she spoke again.
"Some blood spilled on the book and worried that i had ruined it, I started to wipe it off. But from there, the memory of what happened next is all fuzzy. I only remember seeing a white light before I was back at my bed the next morning."
Then, finally she spoke. "My powers manifested two years later..."
"That explains everything..." Axel muttered.
"So how about you? How’d you get your powers. I know you’re contracted with a certain Scar Devil so tell me what happened."
Axel was quiet at first. Then, in a low edgy tone he answered:
"Nightmare happened."
Mai tensed up a bit. She heard stories of a certain devil opening portals here and there and his most well known rampage, was at a certain neighborhood where he cleared the entire area.
The way he looked—that seriousness in his voice carried the weight of everything unsaid...
She knew moving this conversation forward was sure to open old wounds so she chose not to probe further.
Then, standing up she looked down at him and said...
"Let’s get you looked at, yeah?"
"....s—sure...." Axel was shocked at the sudden change of topic but be chose to flow with it...
Standing up, they headed back to the infirmary.
Their date had gone well.
Without the part of him almost being blown to pieces of course...
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