Pandemonium

Chisato’s breath became raspy and her heart rate quickened.

She had seen the message. In the back of her mind, she thought that this meeting was a stupid idea, but she went anyway.

Her vision started blurring and she started feeling lightheaded as the reality of the situation really hit her.

She had to leave. Now.

Frantically, Chisato scanned the convention room. It was packed, but not too far away from her, she saw a fire exit.

Quickly, she walked, her eyes never leaving her target.

It felt like hours, but after a few moments, she had made it. Relieved, she reached for the handle.

But she froze as a hand grabbed her shoulder.

“You’re only supposed to use these in emergencies, you know.”

Chisato’s heart stopped. Terrified, she slowly turned her head.

It was the captain of the 7th Squadron, Yukari Akayama, the Queen Cobra, smirking ear-to-ear. “Is this an emergency for you?”

Chisato sputtered, too horrified to even squeak out a word.

“It’s okay.” Yukari leaned in close and whispered, “I already know.”

Chisato felt pressure build up around her neck, blocking the air flow. “Urk…” she choked.

“I’ve already summoned my demon, and I have no problem with having her kill you right now. Unless… You can tell me where your leader is.”

“I-I–! D-don’t…!”

“I know he’s here.” She tightened her demon’s grip on Chisato’s neck. “Tell. Me.”

But just as Chisato started feeling her consciousness fade, she was released.

She collapsed onto her knees, gasping for breath, but before she could even gather her bearings, an explosion rang out.

Screams echoed throughout the room as people ducked and scrambled.

The convention had begun its descent into chaos.

***

Yukari’s ears rang and her skin burned.

She saw the attack coming just before it happened, jumping away and making it out with only minor burns. Gritting her teeth, she looked over, seeing her assailant.

It was a young man. Because she had her visor on, she could see his demon which appeared to be a collection of fiery orbs.

It was always humiliating suffering an attack from one of these malcontents, yet she couldn’t help but start smirking.

This undercover mission had been such a bore. It was about time to start taking care of things her way.

“Lilith!” Yukari called her demon. This one lived up to the title. While stunningly beautiful, Lilith’s eyes glowed red and black horns protruded from her head.

With a swift motion, Lilith brought up a massive, black chain, throwing it over the crowd and at the assailant, hooking it around his neck.

With all her strength, Lilith pulled on the chain, dragging the young man closer.

But as he was pulled, he called out, “Furaribi!”

One of the glowing orbs that surrounded him latched onto the chain, exploding, shattering it and releasing the young man.

Unfortunately, this explosion not only further shocked the crowd but was also too close to a few people, throwing them back and injuring them.

The chaos grew worse.

But Yukari’s smile only grew wider as Lilith readied her chain once again.

***

After hearing about that message from Yoji, Yukari disappeared. Naoki knew that she would cause a scene.

This was much worse than he had imagined, though.

He was still a fair distance away, but could see it clearly. Yukari and one of the Ghosts fighting with their demons, explosions ringing out almost constantly now.

What had started out manageable had turned into pure chaos.

This was supposed to be a discreet mission, but now all he could do was try and deescalate things by taking out that one Ghost.

If only that could’ve been the case.

As Naoki made his way towards the battle, another Ghost entered the fray.

Taking the appearance of a hawk, this demon dived at Yukari, almost sinking in its claws before Lilith blocked the attack.

One would think Yukari would crack from the dual assault, but to her, it made almost no difference. Almost as if she were a demon herself, she fought off both her attackers with ease.

The price being the people around her.

As she started really letting loose, her concern for them completely disappeared, allowing them to get hit and even striking them herself. However, she at least had enough restraint not to use her demon’s ability…

“Venenifer!” Yukari called out.

Or maybe not…

Lilith had the ability to produce poison. This poison could take many forms such as a dart, a liquid, or even a gas. It was extremely dangerous.

This time, Yukari sent it out as a dart, the most potent form. It rocketed towards the young man who had attacked her, but with only centimeters to spare, he dodged it.

***

Akemi had been watching the battle closely with some modified glasses of his own design.

He knew things weren’t going to be simple when he saw that the SSU had shown up, but this was worse than he’d expected.

While the fight raged on, people were desperately trying to escape, practically trampling over each other to do so.

However, many had still been caught in the crossfire.

A few had been badly burned by Furaribi’s explosions, others were beaten by Lilith’s chains. But the worst was yet to come.

When Akemi heard Yukari call out “Venenifer,” he knew it was going to get bad.

The poison dart flew through the air, and while the Ghost had dodged it, he only cleared the path for a much worse target.

Standing right behind him was a little girl.

The dart burrowed into her neck. She cried out, falling to the floor.

“No!” Akemi ran over to the girl, pushing past everyone else.

Once he was there, he fell to his knees, picking her up. “Are you okay!? Where are your parents!?”

But the girl didn’t say anything. Her eyes were glazed over, her mouth dripping with blood.

Demons were invisible to the naked eye, and that included their weapons and attacks. Nobody else in the room even knew what was really going on, and that included what had happened to this little girl.

“Come on, stay with me!” Akemi said in vain. Lilith’s poison had no cure, and such a small girl certainly couldn’t survive it in its most potent form.

“Come on…! Please…!” He gripped her tighter. Even though he knew it was hopeless, her lifeless face became wet with his tears.

Children die tragically every day.

But this was something he couldn’t accept.