Haze & Chaos - The Hunt Part 8
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“INSUFFERABLE–ARGH!” Perkele growled as he snapped his fingers and set off an explosion of indigo fire as he made his way down the alleyway with X-Pen, halting a cloud of dense dust. “I’ll have to apologize to Will and his friends for cursing them back at The Lost Flame Temple!”
“JEEZ, I thought Jun was exaggerating!” Jessica exclaimed as she dodged a large spike made of dust.
“No, they’re as bad as described! And what’s worse is that the pest couldn’t take no for an answer…” Seeing an opportunity for them to run, Perkele took Jessica by the shoulders and shoved her out onto the sidewalk. “GO, GO!” With one more fire explosion, Perkele took the lead and ran towards a group of familiar mages, with Jessica close behind.
Over near the park, Will had spotted Perkele and indicated for everyone to hurry their pace. “I take it the man of the hour is here?”
“Will, could I ask a favor of you and employ your help for a moment?” Perkele asked as he caught his breath, glancing over towards the cloud of dust that was retreating back into the alley. “Something’s not right, not right in the slightest…”
That statement made Jun freeze, followed by him getting right in Perkele’s face. “What do you mean?”
“You’re going to have to be up front with us about this,” Volt added. “Nobu and his piece of shit devil have always been ‘not right.’”
There was a moment of silence, with a pile of dust appearing on the ground and forming into a human… except, calling that human ‘alive’ was being generous. “Well if you were looking for Nobu, Volty-boy, he’s not here anymore…” a voice laced with cynicism and irreverence stated. The group was horrified by what they saw, that being a human body clearly being piloted by a devil. It was corpse-like with gaunt features and stringy, black hair, and what once would have been gray eyes had been replaced with eyes that were black with dust-brown irises.
“What the fu–that’s what you were doing!?” Ryota barked.
“Now hold on a second–!” the devil said as he held his skeletal hand up.
“Holy shit… did Dustin overtake him!?” Will shrieked
“NO, Heaven-boy!” Dustin shot back. “I may be a scoundrel, but I’m not a murderer or an oathbreaker–Nobu gave up and kicked the bucket. I guess he couldn’t truly handle that power I stole for him.” Dustin then spat on the ground. “And before you send that half-oni after me, no, I don’t have the shinigami’s power anymore.”
Jun stumbled a little, not sure what to make of what he was witnessing. “No-Nobu’s dead?”
“Yeah–make me repeat myself and I’ll start charging you for my time.”
“Masaka!” Satsuki exclaimed. “Alright, Dustin Prowl–what’s your game!?”
Dustin sighed and began to pace as dust leaked from his body. “Honestly I don’t know… All of that bravado Nobu had about how everything was meaningless and how he was going to kill every single criminal in existence feels so empty now. Yeah, everything was meaningless–then why’d you get out of bed in the morning? What was he even trying to accomplish? What, was he going to write all of their names down in a notebook so they all had heart attacks? Was he going to disintegrate everything in sight? Then what? That’s not going to get rid of crime–you keep chopping off the head of the weed and it’ll keep growing back. He had us run around killing this Joe Schmoe and that Richard Roe and for what? To spite his community and parents? Looking back on it, he had nothing to prove… Nothing to fight for, and died alone. What a pitiful way to go… Well, here’s one to his next life, whatever that is. As for me? If you think I’m going to just ‘turn over a new leaf’ then you’re a dumbass–I still don’t like Heaven, and those pompous harp-music pansies can kiss my ass–”
“BURN IN HELL, SINNER!!!” Will roared with the voice of his old angel self and his fist clenched as tight as they could go. It was so startling that it caused Inkblot to demerge unexpectedly.
“OOH, did I strike a nerve?” Dustin cooed with his hands up to his chest. “Give it a rest, Zasiel, you’re part of the problem…” He had not expected such a violent reaction, but making an angel get all riled up like that was priceless.
“Easy, sweetie,” Aoife said as she put her hand on Will’s shoulder, calming him down. “There were troublemakers even back in my iteration.” He was still clearly fuming, but held back his anger.
“Yeah, and even not every demon is good,” Inkblot added as he remerged with Will.
“Nobu’s definitely dead, guys,” Bethany said as she finished sniffing the air. “He let himself go out of hubris and despair.”
“ARGH, enough talking!” Volt said as he forced Jun towards Dustin. “Alright, dirtbag–enough gab, what do you really want?”
“Still sore over all of my business ventures? Come one, Volty-boy…”
“CONS AND SCAMS, YOU–” Whatever the insult was turned into a thunder clap, shaking the area, and causing passersby to panic and hurry away.
Dustin stared at Volt and smirked. “Goody-two shoes as always… Honestly I have no idea what Nobu truly wanted, given his nihilism, and mixed feelings towards his father who wouldn’t stop kissing the Yakuza’s ass to make his laundromat franchise work… Maybe I’ll cause a little trouble–After all, I heard The Earl Profane is hiring–”
That declaration sent Will and Jun into attack mode, and their teamwork was unbelievable. Dustin was the sworn enemy of Volt, and Will was not going to let any harm come to the city–not again. Jun’s aggression was complimented nicely by Will’s creativity as the latter created ink constructs to distract Dustin while the former surged all over the place with his electricity–delivering powerful blows to their foe. The fight was far from simple, however, as Dustin was now in control of a human body that had no life. There was no ego or conscience to hold him back, so his dust magic was unrestrained. He could unleash his power like he was back in Inferno. Normally Perkele would have fled given that his business needed to stay private, but he did ask a favor of Will and something deep within was compelling him to help–most likely his origin as one of Valentin’s hexes. And with Bethany keeping Jessica and Keisuke safe, and Satsuki making sure the area was clear with Morrigan and Barry, Royta and Aoife figured it was time to lend a hand.
“Alright, Kid–you ready to tussle?” Aoife inquired with fire in her voice as her muscles started to swell up as they hurried towards the fight.
“Born ready!” Ryota proudly declared as he flared up with a loud burst of flame.
Naturally Ryota made the opening move as he inhaled, and exhaled a massive torrent of fire like a dragon’s breath, the sound it made becoming like a jet engine. Dustin formed a barrier of dust that just barely held up and turned to glass. Will and Jun were at a loss for what to immediately do, but thankfully Aoife punched her way through and tried to go for Dustin. Her punches may have been missing each hit and it seemed like Dustin had the upper hand, but in reality he was barely dodging each lightning-fast strike by the skin of his teeth. He could sense he was dealing with another devil similar to him, but Aoife had merged her human form with her true form, meaning she was the one who potentially had the upper hand. As powerful as Dustin found himself, he had to deal with the reality of piloting a corpse.
Will stepped away from the fight to start drawing and had crafted a series of incredibly dangerous javelins. Dustin had been keeping them at bay with more barriers of dust he had formed over Nobu’s body, requiring someone to come up with something to pierce them. Perkele noticed Will’s drawing and went to cast an illusion spell that would fool Dustin long enough so Will could work. Once he was ready, Morrigan raced over to shoot them using her star magic. Dustin dodged three of the projectiles, but was caught off guard by the fourth and struck by the fifth, going through his chest. While he could not be immediately hurt, Nobu’s body was not as durable. Needing to recover, Dustin kicked up a storm of dust that obscured him. Ryota was going to clear it with a burst of steam, but first he needed some more energy. Aoife was overheating from all of the aura magic she had been channeling, so she happily gave it to Ryota with a handshake. The ghost rushed into the cloud and made a loud hissing noise like that of a steam engine’s whistle, revealing that Dustin was a sitting duck, yanking the ink spear out of Nobu’s body.
Lurking in the shadows of the alleyway like a cunning snake was Ernust, who had sensed what was going on. He would not join the fight, but he made sure to deal with the demonic constructs that The Earl Profane had sent to assist Dustin. Seeing that Perkele and his group were out of their depth for this fight, Ernust whispered a void spell that would send a message to someone close by who could help. Back at the fight, Dustin had created a monstrous form from the dust–an ogre-like brute that towered over his opponents and could easily vanquish someone with a punch. Morrigan had both of her swords out and was holding the monster off, with Will and Jun falling back to take a breather. Aoife had increased her strength to the point where her skin was starting to turn charcoal-black and was punching the giant back with ease. Inkblot was at a loss for what to do, as fighting someone who had clearly taken cues from foul abominations such as the nephilim was a bit out of his wheelhouse.
Fortunately Satsuki had called for backup, and thundering down the roads came Jackson in his MRAP, blaring a rumbler siren as he was followed by several SWAT squad cars and a bearcat. Opening the door, he called out for the group to fall back with his megaphone as M.A.I.G. soldiers filed out of the MRAP, and police officers got into formation with their assault rifles ready to go. Perkele saw the commotion brewing, and made his exit, having noticed Ernust in the distance and fleeing with him. It was safe to say that Sebastian and Mephistopheles would want to be updated on the Nobu and Dustin situation. Jackson would order the soldiers and officers to fire upon Dustin, stating that if they could damage Nobu’s body enough the dust devil would have to abandon it. Adrien was atop the MRAP with a mounted rotary cannon and led the proceedings with a sustained stream of bullets, followed by everyone with a gun unloading as much lead as they could into Dustin’s monstrous form.
Dustin knew what was happening and that he was pinned down. It was either keep blocking the bullets and get worn down or lose Nobu’s body… but he was not going to give up that easily. Using his magic in a spell he had no idea if it would work, he began holding onto each bullet and grinding it into metal powder, using that to give himself more dust to work with. The nuance of him slowly growing bigger as more bullets were fired was lost upon the officers, but the soldiers slowly started to realize something was off when Adrien stopped firing. And then Jun realized what Dustin was doing and told Jackson to have everyone stop immediately. Jackson’s panicked orders rang out through the megaphone, but it took the officers a moment to each stop firing. By the time they had stopped, Dustin’s form was now a gun-metal gray in color, and vastly bigger–roughly 12 feet tall and ready to do some real damage.
Dustin laughed maniacally as he felt so much more powerful. “THANK’S FOR THE ASSISTANCE, OFFICERS!” And any other banter he could have possibly said was forwent in favor of the terror instilled from his heavy footsteps that shook the ground as he walked
Everyone was at a loss for what to do, with the officers starting to fallback, but the panic was interrupted by a divine crack of thunder. “CHILD’S PLAY COMPARED TO THE MIGHT OF A GOD!” a boisterous voice boomed like it was from the heavens itself. Standing atop one of the buildings was a mighty man in samurai-like armor, holding a nodachi up to the sky as storm clouds swirled around the area. Lightning struck the slender blade and roared down to Dustin, shocking his body. In a panic, Dustin abandoned all of the metal powder and flew off as what looked like a howling specter made of dust, vanishing from sight and the area. “YATTA, HAHA!” the god said as he leapt down to the street. The clouds began to clear, albeit with a rumble of thunder here and there.
The officers were frightened, but Jackson quickly recognized who it was and said through his microphone “Don’t panic, everyone–it’s just Susanoo, God of Storms, ha!” He then got out his communicator and pressed the button. “Have squads sweep the city–Dustin fled, but I imagine he’s not going to go far…”
“Blessings be upon all of you, mighty enforcers of justice,” Susanoo said to the soldiers and officers. “Now, where’s Jun and Will?”
“Mother of God, Susanoo!” a brown-haired man who looked like a farmer with beat up jeans and a flannel over a white t-shirt said as he came hurrying up. “You’re gonna scare the willickers out of everyone in the city with shows like that!”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Susanoo replied with a shrug.
“Haha, I bet Amaterasu would agree to that over her horse…” the man retorted, causing Susanoo to groan.
“Hold up, who’s this?” Will asked, as the man looked like a civilian, but seemed like he was vastly more important.
Jackson hopped down to the road and stepped over. “Will, I’d like you to meet Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Babe Bunyan–two members of The League who’ve agreed to help us out.”
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
“INSUFFERABLE–ARGH!” Perkele growled as he snapped his fingers and set off an explosion of indigo fire as he made his way down the alleyway with X-Pen, halting a cloud of dense dust. “I’ll have to apologize to Will and his friends for cursing them back at The Lost Flame Temple!”
“JEEZ, I thought Jun was exaggerating!” Jessica exclaimed as she dodged a large spike made of dust.
“No, they’re as bad as described! And what’s worse is that the pest couldn’t take no for an answer…” Seeing an opportunity for them to run, Perkele took Jessica by the shoulders and shoved her out onto the sidewalk. “GO, GO!” With one more fire explosion, Perkele took the lead and ran towards a group of familiar mages, with Jessica close behind.
Over near the park, Will had spotted Perkele and indicated for everyone to hurry their pace. “I take it the man of the hour is here?”
“Will, could I ask a favor of you and employ your help for a moment?” Perkele asked as he caught his breath, glancing over towards the cloud of dust that was retreating back into the alley. “Something’s not right, not right in the slightest…”
That statement made Jun freeze, followed by him getting right in Perkele’s face. “What do you mean?”
“You’re going to have to be up front with us about this,” Volt added. “Nobu and his piece of shit devil have always been ‘not right.’”
There was a moment of silence, with a pile of dust appearing on the ground and forming into a human… except, calling that human ‘alive’ was being generous. “Well if you were looking for Nobu, Volty-boy, he’s not here anymore…” a voice laced with cynicism and irreverence stated. The group was horrified by what they saw, that being a human body clearly being piloted by a devil. It was corpse-like with gaunt features and stringy, black hair, and what once would have been gray eyes had been replaced with eyes that were black with dust-brown irises.
“What the fu–that’s what you were doing!?” Ryota barked.
“Now hold on a second–!” the devil said as he held his skeletal hand up.
“Holy shit… did Dustin overtake him!?” Will shrieked
“NO, Heaven-boy!” Dustin shot back. “I may be a scoundrel, but I’m not a murderer or an oathbreaker–Nobu gave up and kicked the bucket. I guess he couldn’t truly handle that power I stole for him.” Dustin then spat on the ground. “And before you send that half-oni after me, no, I don’t have the shinigami’s power anymore.”
Jun stumbled a little, not sure what to make of what he was witnessing. “No-Nobu’s dead?”
“Yeah–make me repeat myself and I’ll start charging you for my time.”
“Masaka!” Satsuki exclaimed. “Alright, Dustin Prowl–what’s your game!?”
Dustin sighed and began to pace as dust leaked from his body. “Honestly I don’t know… All of that bravado Nobu had about how everything was meaningless and how he was going to kill every single criminal in existence feels so empty now. Yeah, everything was meaningless–then why’d you get out of bed in the morning? What was he even trying to accomplish? What, was he going to write all of their names down in a notebook so they all had heart attacks? Was he going to disintegrate everything in sight? Then what? That’s not going to get rid of crime–you keep chopping off the head of the weed and it’ll keep growing back. He had us run around killing this Joe Schmoe and that Richard Roe and for what? To spite his community and parents? Looking back on it, he had nothing to prove… Nothing to fight for, and died alone. What a pitiful way to go… Well, here’s one to his next life, whatever that is. As for me? If you think I’m going to just ‘turn over a new leaf’ then you’re a dumbass–I still don’t like Heaven, and those pompous harp-music pansies can kiss my ass–”
“BURN IN HELL, SINNER!!!” Will roared with the voice of his old angel self and his fist clenched as tight as they could go. It was so startling that it caused Inkblot to demerge unexpectedly.
“OOH, did I strike a nerve?” Dustin cooed with his hands up to his chest. “Give it a rest, Zasiel, you’re part of the problem…” He had not expected such a violent reaction, but making an angel get all riled up like that was priceless.
“Easy, sweetie,” Aoife said as she put her hand on Will’s shoulder, calming him down. “There were troublemakers even back in my iteration.” He was still clearly fuming, but held back his anger.
“Yeah, and even not every demon is good,” Inkblot added as he remerged with Will.
“Nobu’s definitely dead, guys,” Bethany said as she finished sniffing the air. “He let himself go out of hubris and despair.”
“ARGH, enough talking!” Volt said as he forced Jun towards Dustin. “Alright, dirtbag–enough gab, what do you really want?”
“Still sore over all of my business ventures? Come one, Volty-boy…”
“CONS AND SCAMS, YOU–” Whatever the insult was turned into a thunder clap, shaking the area, and causing passersby to panic and hurry away.
Dustin stared at Volt and smirked. “Goody-two shoes as always… Honestly I have no idea what Nobu truly wanted, given his nihilism, and mixed feelings towards his father who wouldn’t stop kissing the Yakuza’s ass to make his laundromat franchise work… Maybe I’ll cause a little trouble–After all, I heard The Earl Profane is hiring–”
That declaration sent Will and Jun into attack mode, and their teamwork was unbelievable. Dustin was the sworn enemy of Volt, and Will was not going to let any harm come to the city–not again. Jun’s aggression was complimented nicely by Will’s creativity as the latter created ink constructs to distract Dustin while the former surged all over the place with his electricity–delivering powerful blows to their foe. The fight was far from simple, however, as Dustin was now in control of a human body that had no life. There was no ego or conscience to hold him back, so his dust magic was unrestrained. He could unleash his power like he was back in Inferno. Normally Perkele would have fled given that his business needed to stay private, but he did ask a favor of Will and something deep within was compelling him to help–most likely his origin as one of Valentin’s hexes. And with Bethany keeping Jessica and Keisuke safe, and Satsuki making sure the area was clear with Morrigan and Barry, Royta and Aoife figured it was time to lend a hand.
“Alright, Kid–you ready to tussle?” Aoife inquired with fire in her voice as her muscles started to swell up as they hurried towards the fight.
“Born ready!” Ryota proudly declared as he flared up with a loud burst of flame.
Naturally Ryota made the opening move as he inhaled, and exhaled a massive torrent of fire like a dragon’s breath, the sound it made becoming like a jet engine. Dustin formed a barrier of dust that just barely held up and turned to glass. Will and Jun were at a loss for what to immediately do, but thankfully Aoife punched her way through and tried to go for Dustin. Her punches may have been missing each hit and it seemed like Dustin had the upper hand, but in reality he was barely dodging each lightning-fast strike by the skin of his teeth. He could sense he was dealing with another devil similar to him, but Aoife had merged her human form with her true form, meaning she was the one who potentially had the upper hand. As powerful as Dustin found himself, he had to deal with the reality of piloting a corpse.
Will stepped away from the fight to start drawing and had crafted a series of incredibly dangerous javelins. Dustin had been keeping them at bay with more barriers of dust he had formed over Nobu’s body, requiring someone to come up with something to pierce them. Perkele noticed Will’s drawing and went to cast an illusion spell that would fool Dustin long enough so Will could work. Once he was ready, Morrigan raced over to shoot them using her star magic. Dustin dodged three of the projectiles, but was caught off guard by the fourth and struck by the fifth, going through his chest. While he could not be immediately hurt, Nobu’s body was not as durable. Needing to recover, Dustin kicked up a storm of dust that obscured him. Ryota was going to clear it with a burst of steam, but first he needed some more energy. Aoife was overheating from all of the aura magic she had been channeling, so she happily gave it to Ryota with a handshake. The ghost rushed into the cloud and made a loud hissing noise like that of a steam engine’s whistle, revealing that Dustin was a sitting duck, yanking the ink spear out of Nobu’s body.
Lurking in the shadows of the alleyway like a cunning snake was Ernust, who had sensed what was going on. He would not join the fight, but he made sure to deal with the demonic constructs that The Earl Profane had sent to assist Dustin. Seeing that Perkele and his group were out of their depth for this fight, Ernust whispered a void spell that would send a message to someone close by who could help. Back at the fight, Dustin had created a monstrous form from the dust–an ogre-like brute that towered over his opponents and could easily vanquish someone with a punch. Morrigan had both of her swords out and was holding the monster off, with Will and Jun falling back to take a breather. Aoife had increased her strength to the point where her skin was starting to turn charcoal-black and was punching the giant back with ease. Inkblot was at a loss for what to do, as fighting someone who had clearly taken cues from foul abominations such as the nephilim was a bit out of his wheelhouse.
Fortunately Satsuki had called for backup, and thundering down the roads came Jackson in his MRAP, blaring a rumbler siren as he was followed by several SWAT squad cars and a bearcat. Opening the door, he called out for the group to fall back with his megaphone as M.A.I.G. soldiers filed out of the MRAP, and police officers got into formation with their assault rifles ready to go. Perkele saw the commotion brewing, and made his exit, having noticed Ernust in the distance and fleeing with him. It was safe to say that Sebastian and Mephistopheles would want to be updated on the Nobu and Dustin situation. Jackson would order the soldiers and officers to fire upon Dustin, stating that if they could damage Nobu’s body enough the dust devil would have to abandon it. Adrien was atop the MRAP with a mounted rotary cannon and led the proceedings with a sustained stream of bullets, followed by everyone with a gun unloading as much lead as they could into Dustin’s monstrous form.
Dustin knew what was happening and that he was pinned down. It was either keep blocking the bullets and get worn down or lose Nobu’s body… but he was not going to give up that easily. Using his magic in a spell he had no idea if it would work, he began holding onto each bullet and grinding it into metal powder, using that to give himself more dust to work with. The nuance of him slowly growing bigger as more bullets were fired was lost upon the officers, but the soldiers slowly started to realize something was off when Adrien stopped firing. And then Jun realized what Dustin was doing and told Jackson to have everyone stop immediately. Jackson’s panicked orders rang out through the megaphone, but it took the officers a moment to each stop firing. By the time they had stopped, Dustin’s form was now a gun-metal gray in color, and vastly bigger–roughly 12 feet tall and ready to do some real damage.
Dustin laughed maniacally as he felt so much more powerful. “THANK’S FOR THE ASSISTANCE, OFFICERS!” And any other banter he could have possibly said was forwent in favor of the terror instilled from his heavy footsteps that shook the ground as he walked
Everyone was at a loss for what to do, with the officers starting to fallback, but the panic was interrupted by a divine crack of thunder. “CHILD’S PLAY COMPARED TO THE MIGHT OF A GOD!” a boisterous voice boomed like it was from the heavens itself. Standing atop one of the buildings was a mighty man in samurai-like armor, holding a nodachi up to the sky as storm clouds swirled around the area. Lightning struck the slender blade and roared down to Dustin, shocking his body. In a panic, Dustin abandoned all of the metal powder and flew off as what looked like a howling specter made of dust, vanishing from sight and the area. “YATTA, HAHA!” the god said as he leapt down to the street. The clouds began to clear, albeit with a rumble of thunder here and there.
The officers were frightened, but Jackson quickly recognized who it was and said through his microphone “Don’t panic, everyone–it’s just Susanoo, God of Storms, ha!” He then got out his communicator and pressed the button. “Have squads sweep the city–Dustin fled, but I imagine he’s not going to go far…”
“Blessings be upon all of you, mighty enforcers of justice,” Susanoo said to the soldiers and officers. “Now, where’s Jun and Will?”
“Mother of God, Susanoo!” a brown-haired man who looked like a farmer with beat up jeans and a flannel over a white t-shirt said as he came hurrying up. “You’re gonna scare the willickers out of everyone in the city with shows like that!”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Susanoo replied with a shrug.
“Haha, I bet Amaterasu would agree to that over her horse…” the man retorted, causing Susanoo to groan.
“Hold up, who’s this?” Will asked, as the man looked like a civilian, but seemed like he was vastly more important.
Jackson hopped down to the road and stepped over. “Will, I’d like you to meet Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Babe Bunyan–two members of The League who’ve agreed to help us out.”
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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