Chapter 7

15 years ago

"ATTENTION, ALL MEMBERS!! A DEMON HAS BEEN DETECTED IN DISTRICT 8!! PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!!"

"District 8! Do you need help, Xavier?" asks Domino.

"I think I'll go alone, Domino. I understand the situation the best since it's my hometown." Xavier replies.

"Chief, let me come with you," says Mateo.

Mateo was the Virgo before Crysalia.

"No need, Mateo. I'll take care of it," replies Xavier.

Xavier was the Leo. He was the Zodiacs' leader before Maximus.

"Are you sure you want to go alone? This is District 8 we're talking about! And we all know that there's a possibility that their base is near that district." Domina says.

"Take it easy. I'll be fine. If the situation gets worse, I'll let you know right away. Alright, I'll get going." Xavier says.

"Take care, Xavier!" says Domino.

When Xavier arrives in District 8, all the houses are empty and unoccupied. District 8 is his area of responsibility, as well as the place where he used to live before he joined the Zodiacs.

"What's going on? There's no damage and no sign of a fight." Xavier mutters.

He walks around the place and looks around. He also checks out some of the houses there. However, he doesn't find a single person.

"Hello. Is there anyone here? If you hear my voice, please answer. I've come to help you." Xavier shouts.

Rustle... Rustle...

Xavier runs toward the voice. "Hey, is there someone?"

Meow... Meow...

"It's just a cat. What's this?" Xavier approaches someone's backyard. He sees a suspicious cardboard box.

He approaches the box and examines its contents. There's a paper that read "YOU WILL PAY DEARLY FOR TAKING THE PERSON WE LOVE MOST!!"

Xavier doesn't understand what that meant. "Red ink? No! It's blood! It must be one of them!"

Whoosh...

A knife is thrown at Xavier from the dark street. Although he's able to avoid it, his ear was grazed.

"Knife?! Who is it?" Xavier snaps.

Groaarr... Rawrrr...

A horde of humans chases Xavier, walking like zombies. Each of them carries a weapon to attack him. Their eyes glow brightly with a blank stare.

"They're under someone's control! It must be those demons! I need to find out who did this." Xavier continues to dodge knives and other sharp objects.

Xavier looks for a higher ground to get a better view. However, he's shocked to find that the place where he's standing is surrounded by a large number of zombies.

"Damn! How do I get out of this place? I can't possibly hurt them!" Xavier says.

In a tall tower far away, there are two demonic figures monitoring Xavier's movements.

"Fikz, can't you tell them to move faster?! Why are they moving so slowly like that?!" says Hermins.

Hermins is one of the 12 most powerful demons. Her ability is to create all kinds of weapons which power is far stronger than real physical weapons.

"Calm down. They're slow, but they'll always follow my orders. The spell I put on them can't be cancelled by anyone." Fikz replies.

Xavier doesn't know the whereabouts of Fikz and Hermins yet. He's still trying to find out who is behind all this.

"I have no other way. I have to make you all stand still for a moment. Frozen Time!" Xavier has the ability to cast a freezing spell.

He freezes all the zombies in an area of 10,000 square metres.

"Ouch!! Look out! Get out of the way." Fikz shouts.

Hermins is hit by Xavier's attack which is so far away. Even though it only hit her legs, the ice is hard to shake off.

"Arrgghh!! Insolent! Does he know where we are?! Damn it! I can't move!! Hey, Fikz! Why are you leaving?!" Hermins shouts.

Because the ice Xavier released is so wide-ranging, Hermins is also affected. Because his ice touches her feet, he knows that there's another aura being sensed through his ice power.

"Caught you! Alright, I'll finish it quickly!" Xavier rushes over to Hermins.

"Hey, Fikz! Where are you?! Why are you doing nothing?! Hey!" Hermins shouts.

A moment later, Xavier appears in front of Hermins. "There you are! Any last words before I end this?" He says.

"You think you can easily defeat me, weak human?!" Hermins shouts.

"Still trying to bluff, huh? Goodbye, rotten demon! Ice Blade!"

Xavier thrusts his blade toward Hermins.

"Wooden Shield!!" Hermins creates a powerful wooden shield to block Xavier's attack.

Thunk!

"Wooden shield? It's impenetrable! Unbelievable!" Xavier mutters to himself.

"Hahaha!! Your attacks are so weak! Even my weakest shield is impenetrable. Now feel my attack! Throwing Knife!"

Suddenly, a multitude of knives appear and fly toward Xavier. "Ice Wall!"

Xavier manages to block all of Hermins' attacks. She keeps trying to free her legs that are entangled in his ice.

"The ice is weakening! Well, I'll be able to break free in a bit." Hermins says.

"Curse Puppet!! Dark Clown!!" Fikz appears from behind Xavier and attacks him directly using his two clown puppets.

"What?! There are two?!" Xavier tries to dodge the attacks of Fikz's two puppets. He manages to avoid them.

"Finally got my feet off this stupid ice! Haha. You're just a lone weakling!" Hermins shouts.

The situation is getting worse. Xavier wants to contact the headquarters immediately. However, he also wants to learn more about Fikz and Hermins' abilities.

"You're not bad, human. Or should I just call you... Xavier the Zodiacs' leader!!" Fikz says.

"What? How did he know my name?" Xavier mutters to himself.

"You must be surprised, right? Since you're definitely going to be finished by both of us here, I'll tell you my name. I am Fikz, the 8th commander. I'm one of the 12 demon commanders."

"I'm Hermins, the 9th commander. The two of us will finish you off!"

Xavier, who has released tons of power at the beginning, has to take a short break to recover his aura power. "Great, that way I can finish you both off at once." He says.

"Arrogant weakling!! Die! Stone Sword!" Hermins charges forward with her stone sword and wooden shield.

"Close combat? Good. I'll save my energy. Ice Gauntlet!"

A very fierce battle between the three of them ensues.

Fikz is very quick with his two clown puppets. "Drill Attack!!" His two puppets join forces and spin very quickly toward Xavier.

Thunk!

"Damn! What an unfavourable position!"

Xavier withstands the attacks of the two puppets.

Clank!

Hermins thrusts her stone sword at Xavier.

"I can't dodge! These dolls are grabbing my hands!" Xavier mutters.

"You can't run anymore, Xavier." Fikz says.

"Frozen Ti-! Arrgghh!!" Xavier cries out in pain.

Slash!

A sand sword pierces his body from behind. "You let your guard down! You're just as weak as him! Why are all the Zodiac members so weak?!"

Another one of the 12 demons commanders, Ignedio, arrives.

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At the present time

"THE NEXT MATCH IS PETRA VERSUS SIERA! BOTH PARTICIPANTS PLEASE GO FORWARD!" shouts Mr. Satoshi.

"Huh? My match is about to start? Wasn't it supposed to be Dominggus' match and then Daniel's? Well, I have to hurry."

I approach Mr. Satoshi and ask about Daniel's match.

"Mr. Satoshi, shouldn't it be after Dominggus' fight is Daniel's turn?"

"Just look at your friend over there." Mr. Satoshi points toward the participants' seats.

Daniel is shivering with fear.

Diana's ability is intimidation. She could release her spirit to enter her opponent's body. The condition is that her opponent must be weaker or successfully hit by her intimidation moves.

"Daniel lost in less than 10 seconds." Dominggus mocks.

"So-so-sorry, f-friends." Daniel stammers.

"How was your match, Dominggus?" I ask.

"I won against Marie. Her power is fire. It was lucky that I fought her. I, who have the power of water, was superior to her. Nevertheless, she's quite strong." Dominggus says.

"PETRA! YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS. IF YOU DO NOT ENTER THE FIGHTING ARENA, YOU WILL LOSE BY DEFAULT!" shouts Mr. Satoshi.

"Waaaa... Alright, I'm coming!"