Chapter 10:
LOVE X DEVIL
"If Ichimi doesn't come back soon..."
Hori eyes the remains of the girl's half-eaten bento while drooling.
"What's taking her so long, anyways?" she has worried look.
Gabriel narrows his eyes.
"I'm gonna try to find her. you just-"
KACHING! KACHING! KACHING!
KACHING! KACHING! KACHING! KACHING! KACHING! KACHING! KACHING! KACHING! KACHING!
The unnatural sound reverberates throughout the train car, stopping just as abruptly as it began.
Riru's expression drops.
"That sound..." she whispers.
"What's going on?!" shouts Hori.
The air is filled with nervous chatter from everyone in the surrounding seats.
Interrupting the chaos, the door connecting to the previous car opens. A disheveled man steps out from within the darkness, his clothes and skin completely drenched in a bright red. He seems unable to contain the nervous quivering permeating throughout his entire body.
In place of his arms are two large battle axes connected to the joints of his shoulders.
At the sound of his foot stepping down, the car goes completely silent.
"I...I-I..."
He can hardly spit out a single word as his lips uncontrollably tremble.
"I just g-gotta kill e-e-everyone here... then he'll t-t-turn me b-back..."
He raises his arms up high, tightly holding his eyes shut.
"So just st-st-stay st-still, would you?"
Without a second thought, Gabriel jumps out from his seat, swiftly swinging his leg against the man's ankles to send him tumbling down to the floor.
"Agh... D-D-Don't hurt me..."
Now fully aware of the gravity of the situation, the rest of the passengers erupt into a chorus of screams, thoughtlessly crawling over each other to escape the train.
The doors leading to the platform abruptly shut, and the train starts to move.
"Next stop is: Shin-Fuji. Shin-Fuji."
Some unlucky escapees fall onto the tracks below as it gradually picks up speed.
The axe-armed man swings one of his blades across the floor, just barely grazing Gabriel's lower leg.
He winces in pain.
Another man stumbles out from the darkness of the other car with a loud beeping sound accompanying his footsteps.
BEEP... BEEP... BEEP....
"I really... gotta go..."
He slides his pants down, revealing a long rectangular explosive fused to the skin between his legs.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...
Riru's eyes widen, and she wastes no time sprinting towards the man as Gabriel is distracted with the axe-handed intruder.
She kicks him hard between the legs. The force of the impact arriving with a loud CRACK!
"Oooouuuffffggghhh....."
The beeping sound stops, and the man's body crumples onto the floor. Gabriel looks over at Riru, surprised.
Frightened passengers flood into the next car over, their screams alerting the rest of the train of the situation unfolding.
Meanwhile, as if completely calm, a one-armed man in a devil exterminator uniform pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, popping open the box.
"Looks like it's time."
Another one-armed exterminator seated next to him grabs a cigarette from the pack.
"You really think we can do this? You don't think that thing is onto us?"
He holds the cigarette towards the next man over, who pulls out a lighter with his single arm and ignites the tip.
"Doesn't matter. It's our only chance of getting promoted to Ascended."
The third man takes the cigarette and hands it to the person in the seat behind him.
The swordsman, with both arms intact and a slim katana lying across his lap, finally grabs it and takes a smoke.
"It'll sniff out that devil hiding in the class, and maybe get rid of Gabriel in the process."
He grasps the scabbard of his katana tightly with a determined expression.
"...Then I go in for the kill."
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"We beseech thee, Mammon.... Greed Prince of Hell."
The swordsman speaks to the red two-handed arm sticking out from the pool of blood before him. The five gagged men fail to ease their haggard breathing as they bleed profusely from their missing right arms.
"Accepted. State your terms."
The two hands flap in perfect coordination to mimic the movement of a mouth.
The swordsman gulps.
"We will provide you with information on Gluttony, along with its location. In exchange... please eliminate it."
"And what do you stand to gain?"
He nervously darts his eyes to the side before responding.
"...Assistance. I don't believe we are capable of carrying out justice on our own."
He kneels down, bowing his head.
"Please... lend us your strength."
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The swordsman holds onto the shoulder of his other arm as if a heavy burden was placed upon it.
"It's a risk I'm willing to take. You've all already sacrificed enough."
Taking another puff of the cigarette, he hands it to the one-armed man sitting next to him.
"Oddly generous of you," the man smirks, pressing it against his lips.
"Enjoy it. It might be your last."
The man hands it off to the seat of the sixth and final exterminator next to him.
Instead, the cigarette is received by two monstrous hands, connected to a blood red arm emerging from the cushion of the seat.
The man looks over.
...
"Wha-"
KACHING!
KACHING! KACHING! KACHING!
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Gabriel ties a piece of cloth around his ankle in a desperate attempt to tend to his wound.
"Go. Get to safety. I'm gonna go investigate."
"I can't..."
Riru looks down, nervously shaking.
"Fukuzaki, Misaki, Inuyama... they might've been back there. I've gotta make sure they're safe!"
"You can't fight."
"Trust me, I can! I'm-"
Coming to a realization, she goes quiet.
Gabriel gives her a reassuring nod.
"I'll find them."
A fire burns behind his eyes.
Riru's expression softens before she nods in return and runs off.
Gabriel cautiously enters the pitch black car the two attackers emerged from. The long case slung over his shoulder rattles. He places his hand against it as if to stop it.
The lights flicker for an instant before illuminating the car once again.
The interior is stained with blood, completely empty with an exception for the hundreds of ornate weapons scattered all across the floor.
He steps further down the aisle, quietly crouching down to grab a longsword off the floor on his way. He holds a hand up to his chest, quietly muttering a prayer.
"Our father, who art in heaven..."
The weapon starts to softly glow.
"Aaaa... aauuu..."
He jumps at the sound of the voice, darting his eyes around to discover its origin.
Looking down, he notices a twisted humanlike face attached to the side of his sword.
He drops the sword in a panic, and it loudly rattles as it hits the floor.
"W-What...?"
"HAHAHAHA!"
The deep and guttural laugh echoes throughout the space. A few feet ahead of Gabriel, a pool of blood slowly forms on the floor.
"Scared of a living weapon, boy?"
The two-handed arm emerges.
"I'm afraid you're not much different."
In an instant, a flash of red bursts through a nearby window. Gabriel reflexively grabs a spear off the ground, just barely managing to parry the demonic claw about to slash him to pieces.
The agile devil leaps from wall to wall, appearing as smears of red dashing all across the room. Gabriel locks his eyes on the creature, refusing to lose track.
Finally, it jumps towards Gabriel, and he readies his blade.
With the sudden sound of a mechanical whir, the devil completely changes trajectory, cutting a deep gash through Gabriel's waist.
"Agh!"
He winces, dropping down to one knee.
The devil lands nearby, blood dripping from a long sharp blade sticking out from within one of its mechanical legs.
The sound of another window breaking signals the arrival of the next devil. It crawls into the train using the dozens of arms sticking out from its head.
"What the hell..."
Gabriel gets up, grasping his spear tightly as the two devils circle him.
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"Aaaggghhh! Stupid! Stupid!"
Riru hits the side of her head as she dashes towards the other side of the train, maneuvering her way through the crowds of panicking passengers.
A woman's scream is abruptly cut off as the top half of her torso gets flung above the crowd.
The intruding devils scamper across the walls of the train car, each a horrifying and unnatural mesh of misplaced body parts and inorganic objects.
A nearby devil lunges towards Riru. She narrowly manages to dodge, but is unable to prevent the scythe fused to its arm from ripping through another passenger.
Before she can regain her composure, another devil tackles her body onto the floor, thrashing its slobbering maw towards her face.
She grabs onto the creature's back, extending her claws out from her fingers and sinking them deep into its flesh.
" RRRAAAAAGGGHHH..."
She kicks the squirming devil off to the side, catching her breath in the brief moment of respite.
Suddenly, the impact from a devil's club-like tail sends her tumbling across the car and into the wall. More and more of the mindless beasts surround her limp and damaged body.
Before she can resign herself to her fate, however, the ceiling above collapses, crushing the attackers under its weight.
"Ack... Huh?"
Looking up through the massive hole that now existed in the ceiling, she spots a strong and imposing silhouette.
The mysterious hooded figure jumps down into the train. Weary of their near foe, the nearby devils scuttle away, giving the surviving passengers a brief moment to escape into the next car.
"GUESS WHO."
The relief behind Riru's eyes immediately vanishes. The figure pulls off its cloak dramatically.
"TA-DAH."
"Des?! What happened to your head?!"
The devil's head seems to have been completely severed from his body.
"THE GREATEST WEAPON IS THE MIND. FEW CAN UNDERSTAND THIS."
Searching for the source of his voice, Riru looks over at the giant spinal cord held between his hands. His head sticks out from the very top, his blade-like horns perfectly mimicking the shape of a battleaxe.
"Gross!"
He winks.
"What are you doing here?! What happened to letting me handle things myself?!"
"I LIED."
Flesh regenerates from Des's neck, contorting to form another head attached to his body.
Finally ready to make its move, a devil lunges towards Des, though it can barely get close before its body gets torn in half by the heavy swing of the makeshift axe.
"...I can't deal with this."
Leaving Des to fight his own battle, Riru runs off.
"YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE RIGHT."
Riru stops in her tracks.
"LET ME HELP."
...
"Just don't get in the way," she murmurs.
Des's eyes have a faint warmth behind him before he shoots her a determined nod.
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Cracks in the window form as Gabriel's body gets thrown against it with overwhelming force. With a click of the pistons inside its mechanical legs, the attacking devil lunges towards him at top speed.
Just before the impact, he rolls forward, causing the full brunt of the devil's momentum to slam into the window instead.
Without a second to spare, he jabs his spear through the glass.
The window shatters, and the devil is pulled out into howling winds alongside the train.
The multiarmed devil looks over in surprise, unable to react before the spear stabs through its skull.
Gabriel takes a breath, quickly scanning his eyes around the room.
...
Where did the arm go?
He quickly twists his body to the side, narrowly avoiding the grasp of the disembodied limb.
"You're quick," it sneers.
It grabs onto the corpse of the multiarmed devil, and blood explodes from the impact.
KACHING!
In the corpse's place, it now holds a longsword, the many hands of the devil decorating its hilt.
While Gabriel's mind races to understand his foe's strange ability, he grabs onto a nearby blade to deflect the arm's incoming slash.
He skillfully parries each blow before holding his blade up above his head for a final strike.
With the shriek of steel, his weapon is flung from his hands, now suddenly spinning through the air above him.
He grabs a pair of nunchucks near his feet, cracking them down against the attacker's sword and causing it to shatter into pieces.
The chain connecting both halves of his weapon is broken by the swing of a spiked club.
The club split into pieces by a hammer.
The hammer breaks upon impact with a shield.
With every strike, one of the fighter's weapons is destroyed, and a new one is grabbed from the seemingly infinite sea of items below them.
Looking for yet another replacement, Gabriel reaches down towards nothing, realizing his supply had finally run short.
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"They're appearing on the train," sighs Bernadette. Though her eyes are closed, she seems able to see across the entire railway system.
"Three, seven, sixteen, twenty-five... I can't keep count..."
"What'd I tell you," mumbles Uriel. "What was that about a waste of time?"
He narrows his eyes.
"Well, I suppose you might've had a point there..."
"Agh... the disturbance... it's too strong..!" Sandalphon shouts, dramatically grabbing his head.
A gruesome roar suddenly alerts the group to a pack of devils approaching from around the corner. Bernadette seems overwhelmed.
"Ugh, they're here too? I was too busy-"
"Forget it. Just focus on the other squads."
Uriel's pitch black hair extends further from its ends.
"You won't have to move an inch."
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A hardened and muscular devil exterminator stomps his way through a dimly lit train tunnel, wearing two large metal gauntlets on his arms. Another scrawnier exterminator, with disheveled hair and catlike eyes, follows shortly behind.
"Shouldn't we have been assigned an Ascended..?", the latter complains.
"Understaffed, we are. But not to worry, lad. I, officer Yamamoto, shall be your shield!"
The man suddenly stops in his tracks.
Up ahead, its silhouette faintly illuminated by the fluorescent lights, is a colossal devil almost double the size of the exterminator's already hefty stature.
It breathes raggedly, saliva dripping from its countless rows of sharp fangs.
In a flash, the devil seems to vanish before appearing above Yamamoto with its claw positioned to strike.
Yamamoto inhales deeply.
"HMPH!"
Shoving both of his forearms together to mimic a shield, he successfully manages to block the devil's attack.
The other exterminator watches with bright eyes.
"Whoa!"
Yamamoto flashes a smile.
"It's not just the muscles, you see. What truly empowers me..."
The ground crumbles beneath the weight of his foot as he takes a step back and readies his fist.
"...is JUSTICE!"
However, before Yamamoto can strike, the devil's body unnaturally contorts with the sound of cracking bone and ripping flesh.
Its torso starts spinning in a complete circle, swinging around its heavy arms and slowly picking up speed with each rotation.
Yamamato positions his arms in shield formation yet again, but is unable to find steady footing before-
"Officer Yamamoto!"
The man takes the full brunt of the impact from the swinging arm, sending his body flying across the tunnel as if it weighed nothing more than a leaf in the wind.
Shockwaves ripple through the concrete wall as he collides into it, causing the entire underground space to shake. He coughs up blood before falling lifelessly to the ground.
The other exterminator runs over, terrified.
"Officer Amano... I..." Yamamoto coughs blood before going quiet.
"O-O-Officer?"
Amano holds his ear to the other man's chest.
...
His eyes suddenly darken.
The devil, refusing to cease its assault, picks up momentum once again.
Amano grasps the katana scabbard hanging at his waist, a single teardrop falling from his eye.
"Officer Yamamoto... I will not forget your sacrifice."
He wipes his tear and unsheathes his blade.
"Now fall..."
A wild look of fury comes over his face.
"...In the name of JUSTICE!"
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The story of how I became an exterminator is a story of untold grief.
I grew up in a small town out in the country, surrounded by mountains on all sides.
It was a quiet town, and for most of the year, its residents enjoyed a simple life of peace and solitude.
However, after the opening of the rifts between Earth and Hell, this peace was disrupted. Devils would find their way through the perilous mountain paths, arriving in our simple town with hopes of nothing more than filling their empty stomachs.
We always kept legends of dangerous beasts from the mountains, but it was only now that those legends had started to become reality.
Though I sometimes longed to escape this town and finally move out to the city, it was my wife who led me to appreciate it. She had a talent for seeing the beauty in everything, no matter how unsightly. Yes, even after these attacks began, she refused to leave, refused to abandon the place she'd come to know so well and love so deeply.
"This is our town. Our home," she'd tell me.
As I wished for revenge, to deliver retribution to the beasts who so carelessly toyed our simple lives, her words rang in the back of my head. Every time, she would insist that I not pursue vengeance, and instead choose to protect what already lay before us.
However, everything changed that one day. The day that she finally became their victim.
I arrived home from work, expecting to once again greet her with a smile on my face, only to find her blood spilled across the floor of the very home we built together.
However, a flicker of life still struggled to remain within her.
She reached out to me, lifted her head, and I saw her face for what it truly was...
An ass. A big, fat, sexy ass.
pbbffffftttttttttttttttttttttt
(the end) (story by officer amano)
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Shredded fragments of the enormous devil's corpse lay scattered about the tunnel, a gruesome pile of innards and blood in place of where it once stood.
The exterminator holds onto one of Bernadette's dolls, a mass of black ooze in the shape of a small bird.
He clenches his fist, crushing it in his hand. A few drops of sludge splatter onto his cheek.
A smile creeps across his face as he desperately attempts to hold in a laugh.
"In the name of justice..."
He playfully sticks out his tongue and thrusts his blade down into Yamamoto's chest.
"Pfft! Hehehe! Hahaha!"
His shrill laugh rings across the long and empty halls.
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While Bernadette continues to focus her efforts on reconnaissance, the pack of devils races towards the group of exterminators defending her.
In an instant, black shadow extends from Uriel's hair and speeds across the ground towards the attackers.
One of the devils happens to step foot within the darkness, and within a second, it shoots up to ensnare the creature and coil tightly around its body. More continue to approach, each falling victim to hidden trap.
On closer inspection, the shadow is made of thousands of individual strands of pitch black hair.
As a devil struggles in vain, the hair refuses to cease its unrelenting grasp, squeezing tighter until flesh explodes from its grip.
Blood splatters onto Bernadette's skirt.
Losing focus for only a moment, she opens her eyes, and her ooze-like dolls waver as if about to lose their form.
"Ugh! Be more careful, would you!" she spits.
Uriel's narrow eyes look thoroughly unimpressed.
"Focus, you little brat," he mutters.
After another of the devils tries and fails to squirm its way out from Uriel's hair, a pair of mismatched arms extend from its back, resembling the bladed legs of a praying mantis.
It swings them down upon the strands of hair, effortlessly sawing through them to free itself.
Uriel looks surprised.
"Annoying. Even for a devil."
He looks over towards Sandalphon, who's currently pacing around the tunnel while grabbing his head and yelling like a madman.
"Sandalphon! Back me up!"
"That's MISTER Sandalphon to you!"
The single comment seems to have snapped him out of his stupor.
"Well, you need only ask..."
He sets down his boombox.
"How about we change the groove?"
As he presses a button on the top of the boombox, the sound of mechanical gears turning within signals the start of a transformation. Metal plates shift into different positions and the entire machine comes apart before reforming into what looks to be an acoustic guitar. The round speakers of the boombox now decorate the center of the body.
'NINGUNA CANCIÓN MÁS CERCA DEL CIELO' is escribed across its length in cursive text.
He lifts up his arm, takes a deep breath, and begins strumming violently. The sound of a fast-paced Spanish guitar fills the air.
While the devils are distracted, Uriel forms his hair into the shape of a drill, shooting it forwards and piercing through the chest of one of the beasts.
The beat of a flamenco drum joins the song.
TAP TAP TI-TAP TAP!
TAP TAP TI-TAP TAP!
With the sound of each last tap, the enemies are buffeted by an invisible force.
Sandalphon dances around the tunnel, grabbing Bernadette's hand while attempting to spin her around.
"Hey! Hands off!"
A devil with back legs resembling a grasshopper pounces high into the air, aiming to land on them both.
After one more spin, Sandalphon strikes a pose, lifting his hands up above his head and clapping twice.
The devil is pummeled by not one, but three invisible blows.
TAP TAP TI-TAP TAP-- CLAP CLAP!
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KACHING! KACHING!
Gabriel dances across the narrow halls of the train car, weaving through the empty seats to dodge the swings of the sword-wielding arm chasing after him.
He desperately looks around for another weapon, spotting a squeaky hammer underneath a nearby seat.
...
He sighs and picks it up.
A medieval lance impales the seat, and Gabriel narrowly dodges with less than an inch to spare.
Two disembodied arms now surround him, each equipped with a different weapon.
"...Great."
He swiftly twirls around to avoid both of their attacks, as Sandalphon does the same in his own battle not too far from the train. Before being jabbed by the lance, he uses the hammer to deflect with a squeak.
More arms emerge from the ground while trying to grab at his legs, each retreating upon impact with the hammer.
Suddenly, the slash of a sword comes from behind.
He successfully manages to evade, until-
KACHING!
The sword becomes a much longer spear, retroactively causing Gabriel to have misjudged the length. The sharp tip jabs deep into his side.
He shouts in pain.
KACHING!
The spear becomes a dove, flying away. Another arm emerges upside down from the ceiling and grabs the dove.
KACHING!
The dove becomes a revolver, and the arm fires a few bullets down at Gabriel. He dives for cover behind a row of seats.
KACHING!
The seats are ripped apart by the swing of a rumbling chainsaw. He slides out from under them, grabbing a nearby baton to defend himself.
Another arm sprouts from the floor, grabbing his baton.
KACHING!
The baton becomes a 50 pound dumbbell, and his body is thrown off balance by the weight.
KACHING!
He avoids an incoming inferno created by a flamethrower.
KACHING!
He's nearly blasted by a fire extinguisher as a boomerang swings overhead.
KACHING! KACHING!
The boomerang becomes a wild tiger, who tears into the giant mattress stuck between the seats.
KACHING! KACHING! KACHING!
The cannonball fires, shooting over the umbrella before the crow swoops down into a rapier.
Coffee pot. KACHING! Rat. KACHING! Mirror. KACHING! Egg beater. KACHING! Telephone box. KACHING! Bouquet. KACHING! Rope. KACHING! Elephant. KACHING! Streetlight. KACHING! Motorcyle. KACHING! Handbasket. KACHING! Desktop computer. KACHING! Wolf. KACHING! CouchCanvasToiletBookshelfTreadmillPandaLimousineBlowdryerOutdoorGrillBirdcageDishwasherZebraDollhouseSledTerrariumRefridgeratorKACHINGKACHINGKACHINGKACHINGKACHINGKACHCAICNGIHGAGIACAHCNCAICIAMCAHCIG-
CLAP CLAP!
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The sounds of chirping birds and buzzing insects are eliminated by the stark clunk of a shishi-odoshi hitting against a rock.
A Japanese-style mansion stands within the midst of lush greenery and flowing streams, bamboo reaching high enough to tear through the clouds as streaks of sunlight reach through the openings in the sky and reflect off the water.
The picturesque garden is surrounded by a stone fence with a plaque reading 'DEVIL EXTERMINATION DEPARTMENT: KYOTO BRANCH OFFICE'.
Inside the mansion, Lucy kneels on a tatami mat with her head pointed down in a spacious and minimally decorated room, bathed in a faint warm glow from the single lantern above.
On the other side of the room sits an old man cloaked in elaborate black robes. A placid expression is hidden under his wrinkled skin and sunken eyes, and his long grey beard reaches down to the floor. An intricately carved katana scabbard is attached to his waist.
He holds a long traditional pipe up to his lips as smoke fills the air from the other end.
After an extended silence, he stands and walks towards the center of the room.
Between the two lies the large and mangled devil spine, the same one used as Lucy's weapon.
He lifts his scabbard from his hip, touching its tip against the bone. It ignites into flame.
His deep and fragile voice creaks out from behind his withered lips.
"It seems the Curse will not fade."
"No, sir."
Lucy raises her head.
"But it's been incredibly useful to me. As you know... I no longer have a Blessing."
The man lowers his gaze.
...
"...A pity."
He slams the tip of the scabbard down onto the mat below, and the flame is snuffed out.
Suddenly, a thin panel on the right wall of the room slides open.
A devil exterminator enters, bowing her head.
"We've received a report from Bernadette, sir. Devils have intercepted the train."
The man looks towards her, his face unwavering.
"...Lucy."
She abruptly stands up as the man continues.
"No security is necessary at the office."
She looks surprised.
"...After all, I will remain here."
A thin smile cracks across his lips.
"I trust you know how to proceed."
Lucy nods, picking the devil bone from off the floor.
She shifts her gaze towards the exterminator standing in the doorway.
"We leave immediately."
"Ma'am!"
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"Agh!"
Gabriel's body slumps over, completely covered from bruises and blood. The train car surrounding him is completely ravaged, with gashes torn in the walls and nearly every seat torn apart. Random objects and weapons litter the floor around him.
...
Blood drips from his mouth as he forces out a few words.
"All of those weapons..."
He thinks back to the first sword he picked up and the disturbingly human voice that came from it.
"They were all passengers, weren't they..."
"Baha! And here I thought you were quick on the uptake!"
The hands flap in unison.
"Anyways, what's the problem, boy?"
Gabriel's eyes immediately ignite into a fiery rage.
"How much did they cost? Not more than your life, from the looks of it."
The arm gestures to the broken remains of weapons scattered all across the car.
"You saved yourself. Isn't that enough?"
"You--!"
Gabriel forces his body up before recoiling in pain.
"You exterminators all spout the same lies."
The voice echoes from the arm as three more emerge from the pool of blood.
They each grab onto the floor, pulling something much larger out from within.
A demonic head rises up from the pool, vaguely humanoid with two goat-like horns on either side. On the bottom half of its head is a second inverted face, as if flipping its head upside down wouldn't change its appearance whatsoever.
The devil is large in stature, with four double-handed arms and hooved feet sticking out from the layers of fur covering its legs.
Goosebumps crawl across Gabriel's skin. The devils voice booms from both of its mouths at once.
"Now, if you're done here, I'm off to find Gluttony."
"What..?"
DING!
"Next stop is: Shizuoka. Shizuoka."
The train gradually starts losing speed.
Gabriel panics.
"Shit!"
"...Well, I suppose a few more weapons couldn't hurt."
The devil smiles.
"How many lives is it going to take? Let's find out together."
The rectangular case over Gabriel's shoulder rattles uncontrollably. Whatever was hidden within, it seemed close to bursting free.
A well dressed man taps his foot while waiting at the platform, checking his wristwatch as the train comes to a stop. The doors slide open, and as he's about to step in, Gabriel's scream erupts from inside.
"AAAAAAGGGHHHH!"
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