Devil Blood Zeykar

Chapter 1: One Tragedy of Many

Dexter manages to narrowly block the strike from the devil as he then backs up. Dexter reaches into his jacket and pulls out second-tier purifying salt, surrounding himself with it to gain a moment to think. Dexter watches as the devil circles him with a malicious smile on its face.

Devil Lord (grinning maliciously): That only buys you 31 seconds. Purifying salt of that quality can’t hold me back; if I were anything lower than what I am, then it might’ve been more effective.

Dexter (locked in): Don’t worry, I won’t even need the full 31 seconds. I already promised you that you wouldn’t see any more days after this one.

Dexter steps out of the circle as the bombs on the obelisks explode, bringing them down. The devil smiles and licks its lips. The devil jumps up and then comes back down with an axe kick that gets blocked by Dexter’s sword. Dexter strains for a bit before he then cuts the devil’s heel and kicks it back. Dexter reaches for his holster for his gun but is swiftly stopped as the devil kicks him in the stomach, sending him sprawling.

Dexter tumbles before standing up, flipping back into the air, and pulling out his Desert Eagle, Starling, firing bullets that the devil catches. When he lands, the devil throws the bullets back at him. Dexter locks in as he dodges and slices the bullets cleanly. He finishes by firing another bullet, pump-faking the demon into a dodge. He instead takes the magazine and throws it towards the devil; the entire thing explodes on impact.

Dexter (slightly grinning): They never expect a flying mag to the face. Classic.

The devil walks out of the smoke with half his face gone but rapidly healing. Dexter doesn’t stand around but instead goes on the offense and runs in, trying to cut open the devil’s stomach. His sword stops, unable to cut through the dense skin. He punches the devil in the throat, grabs his combat knife, and slashes out its eyes, and gets behind it, lodging two knives in its spine to slow its movement. The devil chuckles as he clenches his back muscles and shatters the knives, turning around to try and backhand Dexter.

Dexter has already dropped low as he breathes out, and time seems to slow all around him. Dexter stands back up and grabs his sheath off his back; he sheathes his sword and utters the phrase.

Dexter (calmly): Devoid of death and meaning. When daylight dares to wane, I use the shadows' bane.

First Trigram Opening: Devastating Blank Sunset

Dexter unsheathes his sword and slashes across the devil's back diagonally. Time speeds back up as a massive arc of red flames sears across the devil. The devil shouts in pain and tries jumping away from Dexter, only to be met with a sword to his neck from behind.

Devil Lord (thinking to himself): How’d he get there? It shouldn’t be possible, unless… has he somehow achieved speed that’s too fast for me to process?

The devil focuses as he quickly tightens the muscles in his neck. Dexter takes note and alters the course of the blade slightly, now slashing through his shoulder. The devil smiles as he tries instant regeneration, but instead, he only regenerates rapidly. The devil quickly changes from his neck to his shoulder. Dexter pulls his sword out and then uses Starling and shoots at the place where his neck was hardened. Just as he thought, the bullet went right through.

Dexter gets ready to attack again, but the devil is having none of that now. He rushes in and kicks Dexter up into the air, jumps up to axe kick him back down onto the ground, and tries finishing with a devastating slam, but Dexter rolls out of the way. Dexter uses his Kyomei-Ha to expand the effective range of his Kyoshin to over 5 meters. Time slows again, and Dexter gets to work immediately.

Dexter (walking beside the devil): Darkness blacker than black. Within the confines of time, but without the constraint of death.

Second Trigram Opening: Pleasant New Moon Lotus Bloom

Dexter gets to the front of the devil after walking a full circle around it. He points his sword at the devil, and in an instant, time speeds back up, and several thousand slashes attack the devil. The combination of all the slashes creates a lotus flower as he finishes it by dashing past the devil and sheathing his sword, which causes the other slashes to disperse.

The devil is healing so slowly, to the point it’s almost worse than a basic Lesser Demon. But this only makes it smile widely, ear to ear, as though it just won some prize.

Devil Lord (grinning maliciously): This is exhilarating! But as fun as this is, I think… This is as far as you go.

The devil’s blood starts pouring out of his wounds rapidly, to the point that the Colosseum floods. The devil chuckles as the blood rises and coats the walls of the Colosseum. The scenery changes to where it looks like a hellish arena. Spikes lined along the walls, piles of bones and skulls, and a massive weeping figure that looks like an impaled angel. Cheers fill the stands, causing Dexter to look and see thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of demons watching them fight like this is an ancient gladiator battle.

Devil Lord: Sanctum Arena of the Demon Warrior!

Dexter (annoyed): When did devils start using fucking domain expansion?

The devil’s muscles bulge as they burst out of his body. It grows in size and creates new skin to contain the muscles. The devil’s horns get bigger and jut out more, his claws grow sharper, and jagged dorsal fins sprout from his back now.

Devil Lord (wide grin): As you can see, my Sin Emergence allows me to grow immensely both physically and power-wise. I can do this because I generate demonic prowess from the thousands of adoring demons within the Colosseum.

Dexter (completely taken aback): Yeah, it shows. You look like you’ve been on steroids for the last thousand years.

Before he can regain any composure, Dexter gets rushed by the devil and punched hard enough that he hears his bones start cracking. He’s sent flying through a pillar before tumbling to the ground. The devil grabs him by the arm and throws him across the Colosseum. Dexter aims Starling but gets intercepted and punched in the gut. The devil attempts to go for a grab that would crush Dexter’s arm, but time slows again.

Dexter axe kicks him in the face, jumps back off his head, grabs his horns, swings him around, and throws him away. Time speeds back up as the devil is sent right onto the ground. The devil gets even more excited.

Devil Lord (thinking to himself): It’s as I thought; he isn’t stopping time. He was accelerating up to a point where I couldn’t process it. Because this time I could see him moving. Meaning now all I have to do… IS GO BEYOND!

Dexter (thinking to himself): Damn, I’m getting slower. Using the Trigram Openings might’ve been a mistake. Guess that means one thing… TIME TO BREAK MY LIMITS!

Dexter starts accelerating again as he slashes at the weak points within the devil's muscles. He slides down his back with his sword while firing into his spine. Dexter drops to the ground and cuts out his heels. Dexter rushes back to the front to attack again, but his acceleration limit hits him like a truck. He gets backhanded in the chest and is sent flying. Dexter lies in the rubble for a moment, contemplating. He’s bleeding from his head; his ribs are either fractured or completely shattered. Breathing has become a painful process now. Dexter fuses his Kyomei-Ha to his bones and mends what he can. He stands back up and grips his sword with fury. He flows his Kyomei-Ha through the sheath to where it’s overflowing. Then the sheath breaks into a fine mist and wraps around the sword.

Markings forge along the blade, and Dexter’s Kyomei-Ha flourishes. Dexter accelerates again but turns away from the devil and runs along the walls of the Colosseum. He lands in the stadium and starts killing demons.

Dexter (rushing): I don’t have much time. I have 1 minute and 17 seconds left until I can’t accelerate anymore. I’ll kill as many as possible to decrease the overall percentage of his power!

Dexter starts going as fast as he can, attempting to kill as many demons as he can. If time runs out before he can pull it off, Dexter may end up dead.

Dexter (panting hard): Damn it! Faster, gotta go fast! Mach 5! Mach 7! Mach 9!

He goes as fast as his acceleration will allow him to go without breaking his own body. And through sheer determination and willpower, he pushes himself further beyond and reaches Mach 13. Thanks to this, within 1 minute and 10 seconds, Dexter broke the record for most demons killed in 2 minutes. The number he killed was almost forty-five thousand. Breathing hard and barely managing to stand on his feet, Dexter falls over right before his acceleration ends.

The devil looks around and sees the fallen ashes of his loyal followers. He can’t help but start to chuckle and slowly turn it into a maniacal laugh. He starts growing in size more and more.

Devil Lord: You poor thing. Those lowlife scum were to increase and then limit my demonic essence output. With them gone, it’s going to multiply until I outgrow my old form, and I’m forced to shed into a form more suited for killing.

The devil grows into a disgusting amalgamation of flesh and limbs. He keeps growing and growing until he starts shrinking again. As he’s shrinking, two arms burst out of the blobs and rip it apart, allowing him to emerge in his newest form.

Devil Lord (smiling ear to ear): What do you think? Good look for picture day?

He stands tall—nearly 9 feet. No eyes, just a gaping vertical slit that runs from forehead to chin, lined with dozens of blinking red pupils that rotate and twitch independently. His mouth splits into three separate jaws that open like a flower blooming—revealing a spiraling pit of teeth and a twitching, barbed tongue that drips acidic blood. Sprouting from his back are four jagged protrusions like broken swords that shift and twitch as though alive. His two main arms are massive and grotesquely overdeveloped—bone-reinforced, elongated, with razor-like growths extending from the forearms like mantis blades.

A pair of massive upward-curving horns sprouts from his temples, twisting like broken obsidian towers. Dexter stands back up and groans as he realizes how difficult his job just became.

Dexter (exhausted and disgusted): I would suggest not showing up to picture day if THAT is considered a good look. You look like a freak accident fresh outta the DC comics.

Dexter (thinking to himself): It’s been well over 20 minutes now. Still no backup, which means our forces are still spread too thin. Since rookies can’t hold their own against the stronger demons and devils, they’re forced to work in bigger groups, which leaves less help for people of higher tiers. This shit is so ass.

Dexter stands up as he rushes in and draws out Starling. But when he gets ready to fire, the barrel is already cut, and his arm receives several deep cuts. He looks shocked, and he turns around only to be punched in the chest. He hears his ribs crack again, and he tumbles back. Dexter grips his sword and channels his Kyomei-Ha throughout his entire body to strengthen his body. He looks up, and he’s slashed across the face immediately. Before he can react, he’s being slashed from every direction.

Dexter manages to barely block a cross slash from the devil. The devil moves Dexter’s sword out of the way and uses the razors on his forearm to slash open Dexter’s stomach. Dexter coughs up blood as he balls his hand into a fist and uses his Kyomei-Ha to send a reverberating punch. The devil only laughs and opens his grotesque mouth, his teeth rotating inside as his barbed tongue fires out, aiming for Dexter’s heart. Dexter dodges and tries to stab the devil in his core, but he feels a burn in his chest.

Dexter looks down and sees that the tongue has wrapped around and is stabbing him straight through the lung.

Devil Lord (chuckling): Oh no, don’t tell me you needed that. Don’t worry, I’ll end this quickly so you don’t suffer much longer. I appreciate how long you’ve lasted. The last hunter I fought who was as strong as you was so long ago, I forgot their name.

Dexter yells as he shoves his sword through the devil’s mouth and grabs its tongue. Dexter rips the devil’s tongue off and then uses Starling to blast out both its shoulders. The devil just laughs as he then kicks Dexter. But he gets kicked so hard, his side is blown out. Dexter is about to cough up blood, but then he spits it in the devil's face. The devil wipes away the blood, but his arm is cut off when he looks again.

Dexter (exhausted): First Trigram Opening: Devastating Blank Sunset

The devil opens his mouth as he starts firing out his teeth like bullets. Dexter rapidly blocks as many as he can, but his pace is getting more and more sluggish. His stamina is being drained due to his having to constantly use his Kyomei-Ha to move his body and keep his ribcage together. He watches the devil's eyes as he grips his sword and uses his acceleration again.

Dexter (barely managing to stand): The first shed of light—death has never been so bright. I’ll show them that the moon is my birthright.

Fifth Trigram Opening: Ruin of the Waxing Gibbous

Dexter swings his sword downwards, and nothing happens at first, but after Dexter decelerates, three giant arcs of lunar energy and Kyomei-Ha strike from above. The attack slams the devil to the ground while also giving him deep lacerations all over, lowering his regeneration output. Dexter puts his sword in his mouth as he claps his hands together and then holds out his palm and draws a rune circle. Dexter then punches through the center of the rune circle and causes a massive shockwave; he blasts back the devil and finally has some room to breathe a little.

Dexter makes the sudden realization that, at this rate, the chances of his dying are only increasing. He’s getting weaker and weaker from the overuse of his body acceleration, the use of the Trigram Openings, and the constant use of his Kyomei-Ha throughout his entire body. He grabs his sword and steels his resolve. He weaves his Kyomei-Ha throughout every single fiber of his body, which would increase the effectiveness of his Kyoshin. The devil gets back up, but his condition after that attack is barely better than Dexter’s. He regenerates very slowly, but still faster than Dexter.

Devil Lord (chuckling): It was a valiant effort. But I’m afraid it’s futile to try and continue pushing yourself. After all… You’re only human.

Dexter smiles and starts laughing, even though he’s in immense amounts of pain. He laughs so hard he coughs up blood. He rips off his sleeves and ties them around his stomach wound. He then pulls out a flare from his jacket and uses it to cauterize the side of his torso that got kicked out.

Dexter (smiling like a madman): You’re right, I am only human. There are limits to what I can do and how far I can grow. But that doesn’t matter to me, nor does it matter to those who are told they can’t go beyond their limits. None of that matters because… I AM STILL HERE!

Dexter stomps his foot on the ground, causing a small shockwave, and the ground beneath him cracks and crumbles. He puts both hands on his sword, grips it with all his might, and from the depths of his heart comes out a burst of Kyomei-Ha, which is just enough to use another acceleration.

Dexter (shouting): Silence precedes the splitting of bone. My presence reshapes the will of stone. Thirteen breaths and your fate is spun, For I am the dusk where gods come undone.

Ninth Trigram Secret Opening: Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, Catastrophic Full Moon Spirit Demise

Dexter accelerates to his max as the clouds clear out to reveal a full moon. As he clenches his sword, behind him appears the moon god, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. Tsukuyomi clasps his hands together, and Dexter gains feathered wings on his back. Tsukuyomi applies the purest effects of the moon and space to Dexter’s blade. Dexter leans forward and just blasts forward like a missile.

His acceleration ends, but it doesn’t even matter. Dexter moves almost twice as fast as his maximum acceleration. He slashes up diagonally, causing space to rend around his blade and ignoring the density of the devil’s skin. Dexter cuts him clean in half. The devil screeches in pain as his top half falls back and his body begins burning. The entire colosseum returns to normal as Dexter limps away; he taps the communications device in his ear to call and say that the job has been done.

Dexter (extremely tired and almost falling over): Hey, chief. I finished the mission, but I’m gonna need to see—

Before he finishes, the devil sneaks up on him; his arm blasts through Dexter’s chest. Dexter’s ribcage can no longer hold out and gets broken completely, along with absolutely tearing through his thoracic vertebrae. Dexter instantly crumbles, falling onto his knees and onto his face. The devil chuckles and kneels.

Devil Lord (smug): I have to admit, you scared me when you used that acceleration. But I then remembered that I got strong and fast enough to actually see you moving. So I thought, “What’s stopping me from keeping up?” And the answer was nothing.

So I moved my core into my brain so you’d never suspect where it was. Then I started disintegrating my own body by removing demonic essence from the part of my body I could no longer support, moving it all to my core, so I could then regenerate it all after you felt you had finished the job.

The devil watches as Dexter clings to life. He looks at the ground in front of him, at his locket with a picture of his girlfriend and his brother. He can’t move his arms but desperately tries to grab it.

Devil Lord (mocking Dexter): Y’know, you had said something along the lines of “I am still here,” right? It’s a shame you won’t be here much longer.

The devil hears Dexter’s heart still beating as he stands over him. He raises his foot, ready to stomp Dexter’s heart out through his chest. Dexter steels his resolve again and makes a last-minute decision.

Dexter (barely alive): I won’t... I can’t... I refuse… TO DIE TO ANY DEVIL SCUM!

Dexter manages one last defiant scream as he takes all of his Kyomei-Ha, sending it straight to his heart. He condenses it all in his heart, making it speed up until it eventually explodes. Dexter dies instantaneously. The devil looks down after hearing Dexter detonate his own heart; he looks almost disappointed. He lowers his foot and looks at Dexter’s face.

For someone who just killed themself in the most unexpected way. He looks quite content. The devil notices his arm has moved to a different spot. It’s in front of him now. Even though he shouldn’t have been able to do it, Dexter moved his arm simply to grab hold of the locket that held the most precious people to him.

Devil Lord (more respectful): Out of all the humans and devils I’ve fought in my time, you were the most fun. Thank you for giving that to me. I may never know your name, but I’ll always remember that resilient look.

The devil decides he needs to regain his strength. He leans down to get ready to absorb Dexter, but his senses kick in, and he moves his core to his chest. Just then, a massive anchor crashes through the top half of his head, completely obliterating it. As it soars past, the person who threw it pulls it back, trying to hook onto the devil and pull him in. The devil quickly pops himself into multiple chunks and then quickly reforms to get away.

The man with the anchor swings it around with a chain. He throws it again and hits the devil, dragging it along the colosseum walls, bringing it down.

??? (extremely pissed off): YOU BASTARD, I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR KILLING COMMANDER DEXTER! YOU’LL RUE THIS DAY I SOLEMNLY SWEAR!

The devil makes a quick escape, knowing if he stays, he’ll surely die this time around. The man gets ready to chase the devil, but instead jumps down and checks on Dexter. He turns him over and looks in the hole in his chest to see that his heart is gone. The man looks back and sees his boss standing there with his hands in his pockets.

??? (nearly in tears): Cig… He’s dead. That devil killed him and managed to get away.

Cig (pulling out a box of Newports): I can see that, Jack. But I doubt he died from his wounds; he most likely killed himself. I can feel the residuals near where his heart was; he most likely did something out of his pride. He couldn’t bring himself to be killed by a devil. Prideful son of a bitch.

Jack (mad at Cig’s nonchalant attitude): What the hell, Cig? That’s no way to talk about someone who just died! Even for a heartless bastard like you, that's too far!

Cig: It’s not like it’s anything personal. And I would suggest controlling your tone of voice and your emotions. I taught you better than that.

Jack (angry): My best friend and Commander just died; before we got here, he was forced to kill himself to avoid the dishonor of dying to a devil. He was all alone when he died—no friends, no family, nothing! I hate that we were only a minute, and he still died!

Cig (smoking): Yeah, that’s how it is. A second can change the outcome of one life or many. That’s devil hunting. I’ve sat with my hands covered in blood from those I thought were my closest friends.

Jack (calming down as he sets Dexter down): I’ll call the medical team for transportation to the morgue. We’ll have to inform his loved ones, y’know.

Cig (sighing): I know. I’ll bring the bad news to his brother if you give it to his girlfriend. I know you don’t have the heart to break it to the kid like I do.

Jack nods as he walks away to set up the police tape around the colosseum. Cig looks up as his cigarette burns out. He takes out another and lights it, but it goes out from a drop of water. Cig takes it out of his mouth and stomps it out. He walks away and stands on top of the Colosseum wall. He silently starts weeping to himself. He feels an ache in his chest, as though a hole has been blown through him.

Cig (sobbing to himself): Goddamnit, Dexter, why’d you have to do this? You should’ve just waited.

Cig thinks back to when Dexter first joined The Devil Hunting Association. How young and innocent he was. Cig wipes his tears with his thumb and grips the bridge of his nose.

Cig: That poor kid is sure to have it way worse than me.

END