Chapter 3.1: Taking A Bite

My first impulse was to clear my throat of all the dust from the debris. I wished I had kept my eyes closed indefinitely but as they say, “curiosity killed the cat”.

I was first greeted by my reflection in a broken mirror. I saw the same wings from my dream and this morning, following me. This time, they seemed to be glitching in and out, like a bad television signal. They were not quite there; it was as if the world around them wasn't even real. However the halo was nowhere to be found. The sight shook me, resulting in me flinching backwards.

Just like the last time, my first instinct was to ball up my hands and rub my eyes hoping I was just seeing things. To no avail however since this time, they didn't disappear. They just continued to glitch in and out of reality.

My mind was going through a natural disaster. It was like a fairytale, one that my mind refused to accept within the realm of possibility.

Unable to comprehend how or why these events were occurring, I finally took a look at my surroundings.

The only emotion I felt at all during that moment was absolute despair.

The building was completely gutted by the flames and only a few sections of metal still held together like the skeletal frame of a long dead house of bones. And in the middle of that house, was me, just laying on my butt.

As far as I could see, there were no survivors.

The smell was so strong and pungent, it made me gag every time I caught a whiff. But it was also a familiar scent. One that I remembered very clearly indeed. In all directions, civilians were panicking and crying out as they fled from the explosion.

I slowly crept backwards in terror of the horror before me. I felt the warmth and texture of some thick and slippery liquid. For some, it would feel like a foreign feeling but for me it was one I had quite some history with.

Beside my right hand was the head of the 3 year old baby I saw earlier with what seemed to be a small piece of apple slice still in her mouth. The neck area looked as if it were ripped off from the rest of the body. You could even see a fragment of her spinal cord sticking out the head. My guess is that the force from the explosion must have sent her mother and father at a speed different than her’s, resulting in her ripping apart. Though at this point anything could be on the table.

By this time my chest was reaching a level far exceeding regular pounding.

I stood up to scan the area. I advanced while grabbing my chest in an attempt to ease the speaker blooming in my chest.

After about 6 steps I tripped on a large piece of debris and slammed straight to the floor. I picked myself back up and continued my quest of finding at least one survivor but to my surprise that only made things worse. MUCH WORSE!

I tripped and stumbled shortly after and almost slipped in a pool of blood. I turned back to see what I tripped on and was greeted with what should have been a happy couple burning with passion and life, replaced with 2 butchered bodies.

On the figure that looked male, the upper half was right next to the lower half and the legs were nowhere to be found. On the female figure, she was missing her right hand and half her skull had vanished.

I dropped to my knees. The vomit shot out like an arrow from the bowstring of hell itself. It landed in front of me smearing the debris with a coat of disgust. The stench brought me to my very edge and lunged me straight off. I spew anything my guts had to offer straight back up, even covering my shirt with it. At this point I wasn’t screaming, I was HOLLERING!!!

Then I realized something extremely dire. Something of high importance was missing. My mind asked the question of the highest importance. A question I should have asked myself from the very beginning… were. was. Tenshi?!?

I desperately looked everywhere, flipping every piece of debris in my path, hoping he would just be there. I didn't question or even care if he was already dead, the only thing that mattered to me was finding him. I continued to hopefully look through every debris and organs in my path to find something.

Eventually I saw someone’s burnt body on the floor that wasn’t in pieces but they were definitely dead all the same.

Some bodies were more burnt than others and some were more torn apart, this one was leading more towards the burnt part.

It was lying face up with some type of short iron pole lodge through their chest. The body has a familiar looking skull ring on the index finger of the right hand so I went closer in hopes that I was wrong. Stepping over and passing all other bodies, I realized my judgment wasn’t wrong. IT WAS TENSHI!!!

I fell straight to my knees in disbelief as I laid witness to Tenshi's unrecognizable burnt body. I knew for a fact It was him since only he would ever wear such a stupid skull shaped ring. On his index finger no less. In truth it was just a cheap gift I gave him for his birthday that he for some reason kept a hold of, even after all these years.

As the realization that I was now looking at my big brother’s dead body settled in my head, I started hollering. These screams made my previous crying seem like whispers.

“TEN–”

“Now this is just pathetic”, a deep, sinister voice proclaimed as they began to laugh.

I don't know if I was too terrified to meet its gaze or if I was still in a state of shock from seeing Tenshi dead, but I didn't even turn an inch. It was as if every cell in my body began screaming at me to run away from the natural predator behind me.

“Just look at yourself. You're covered in your own vomit and down on your knees balling like some insignificant little worm. This is just ridiculously funny! HAHAHAHAH!!”, it went on.

Before I could even get a good look at it, I was instantly greeted by a foot pierced into my face. The sheer impact would have caved in my facial bones and the blow sent me flying into one of the few remaining pillars. The second my back made contact, I felt an intense pain circulating throughout my entire body and fell into a brief unconsciousness.

One would question how I could survive such an attack, but that was the farthest thing from my mind. I didn't even have time to question how I survived, because immediately after opening my eyes, there was a fist waiting to greet me.

It sent me flipping through the wall and into the parking lot and I was caught by a random black car. My entire face was drenched in my own blood. There was also a mixture of blood and saliva leaving my mouth and I was almost certain I had a few teeth missing. After such a deadly attack I didn't even need to see that thing to know it wasn't human. Facing me… was a monster!

“Such a fragile and weak creature you are”, the monster said.

“You might actually be worse than an insect. I can’t believe I was so cautious as I approached you too! Even after reducing this place to rubble I stayed back to gauge your reaction! Just for you to be this pathetic? This is just too funny!”, the monster remarked as he palmed his face in disappointment.

Since his entry, this was the first time I could lay eyes on him. Laid out on the damaged car, I observed a being equally as unbelievable as the angel in my dream, actually this one was definitely worse.

He looked to be about only a little taller than me. His skin was deep black, like some shadowy figure. His build was as muscular as a middleweight bodybuilder. He had two large crimson horns with a black base skewing out his head. His face especially looked otherworldly. His eyes were deep red and his sharp pupils were pure white. His lower body looked as if he had armor equipped but it was just his flesh.

The monster walked menacingly to my beaten, worn down body and propelled itself towards me, leading with his right hand. I felt absolutely helpless as I knew certain death was approaching.

At that very moment, time as I knew it reconstructed itself and a wave of memories began broadcasting into my brain. As my brain skimmed through everything in my life, I remembered events like, licking the floor when I was 6, getting punched by my dad during training and even lying about doing my homework.

Weirdly, I even remembered things like, all the times I said good morning to my family, working at a fast food restaurant and even eating with some friends. I also remembered Alice. How I wish I could have seen her smile just a couple more times. Maybe even just once.

(I see… so is this what it feels like to have your life flash before your eyes?)

(Am I really gonna die here?)

(Die..Die.. Death?...)

(...What exactly… Does it mean to die?)

(Will I see God?...Will I see Satan?... Or will I simply vanish away?)

(Times like these.. I wish I was the one to decide!)

(Then I wouldn’t have to worry about judgment. I could be the one to judge others!)

Although I couldn’t quite remember exactly where my hunger for goodhood started, one thing I did remember was the origin of my “perfection”.

The scenery was the outside of an abandoned warehouse. I was cloaked under the den of night as a sudden storm broke out.

Laid out on the floor were three middle school boys, beaten and bruised to death. The corpse in the middle was the only one holding a weapon. A wooden bat. And towering over them, with their shirt and fist, drenched in blood… was me.

“I don’t know what's going on… but I for damn sure ain’t dying today”, I whispered to myself.

With adrenaline cursing throughout my body, I rose up and took a stance that was perfect for both defense and offense. I put my left leg forward and slightly bent my knees while shifting my weight toward the left leg. I had my right fist just a little above my waist with my palm open facing towards the sky and balled it into a fist.

Then I put up my left hand with my elbow bent in about a 35 degree angle, in front of my face with my palm open and facing right. With this stance I’ll be able to block and reflect attacks with my left hand and simultaneously attack with the right hand. Watching me take a defensive stance instead of cowering in fear put a grin on the monster's face.

His fist was making its way closer to me at speeds almost beyond human, but I knew I could react. I used the back of my left hand and shifted his extending arm away from me to the left, leaving his head and torso completely open. I used my right hand and fired a quick jab to his nose, followed by a hook to his jaw.

Though he seemed to have felt the hit, that wasn’t nearly enough to knock him unconscious.

He retaliated with a hook using his left arm, but anticipating this I immediately ducked and countered with a raging uppercut using my right hand.

I followed with a sweep to his legs using my left leg. This resulted in him sliding to the left but I for damn sure wasn’t about to let him fall peacefully, so I sent my right fist to assist with the fall by connecting to the monster's right cheek.

The force I produced shattered the asphalt into pieces, cleared the debris and created a mini crater. I don’t know when or how the hell I got this strong but I for sure wasn’t gonna complain. The only thing on my mind was destroying this clown.

The monster was laying flat on his right side, but my onslaught was nowhere near finished. I lifted my right foot in the air and drove it straight down on the monster's head, but before I could connect, the monster grabbed my right ankle with his left hand. He proceeded to swing my leg behind him and my whole body followed.

I instinctively tried to protect my head with my arms but the speed was far too fast for me to keep up. The force made my brain jump around my skull, causing dizziness, my vision to blur and for me to cough blood.

Still latched to my ankle, he stood up and tossed me back to the same car in the parking lot. If fate was gonna put a demon in my path, they could’ve at least made him a little less disrespectful.

It was like I was right back to where I started, as if everything I just did never even transpired. Part of me also expected to hear him laughing at my determination by now. Saying something cliche like “THIS IS GETTING INTERESTING!!”, but his face was that of complete focus. He was like an entirely different person. In this regard I guess he was a little less disrespectful.

Sadly it didn’t end there because he had even worse up his sleeve. He raised his right hand in my direction and shot some sort of black sphere about the size of a baseball.

Of course I had no intentions of letting whatever that was, touch me but it was flying towards me like it was hurled by a professional pitcher at 88 mph. And to make matters worse I wasn’t even on my feet. I was on my ass by the passenger door of this poor beat up car.

It goes without saying that my heart was beating like a drum at this point. No matter how much my adrenaline rush grew, or how many “flashbacks” I had, or how much I “believed” in myself, there was just no way of overcoming the sheer impossible strength this bastard had by myself. And now your telling me he shoots fucking energy blasts now?

I was desperately searching for a way to dodge the ball of energy hurling towards me. Suddenly I felt a strong rush surging through my legs so I jumped up as fast as I could and a shockwave blasted me meters into the air, moments before the black sphere hit the car and exploded. I’m not exactly sure but I must have been brought 25 feet into the air. The explosion reduced the car to nothing but pieces of metal. I wondered if that attack was what destroyed the restaurant earlier. The only problem was that this explosion was microscopic in comparison.

A cold sweat took over me as I thought about the possible outcome of that attack hitting me. I wasn't sure whether I could tank such a thing or not and for sure wasn’t looking to test it. I had more important questions at the moment, the first being: WHERE THE HELL WAS HE!!!

It seemed like he just vanished from his earlier location. The momentum from my jump came to a stop and I was falling back to the ground after what seemed like a brief pause in the air. But I wasn’t in the slightest bit worried about how I would land from such an attitude. My eyes were wide open and scanning the surface for the whereabouts of that thing. Turning my head to the left, I finally found him. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the bastard now had a pair of wings. Identical to his body, they were deep black and were connected by a crimson blade.

He flapped his wings twice and in a moment he appeared arms length away from me. He launched his right fist straight into my gut while keeping me locked in place by holding my shoulder with his left hand.

The pain was so intense I could've sworn his hand went straight through my intestines. As if returning my previous blows in more than double the power, he followed with a jab to my nose, a hook to my chin and an uppercut, each blow more deadly than the last. I could feel my consciousness slipping as my brain rattled in my skull. His blows were so heavy that I felt like I was getting numb. He connected his left shin with my right side and could swear a couple of ribs broke. Letting go of my shoulder, he grabbed my legs and spun like he was imitating a tornado and sent me flying back into the remains of Burger Queen.

Not only was this bastard godly strong, but he was clearly petty seeing as I found myself in a crater similar to the one I put him in, after a combo similar to the one I put him in. I tried to raise my arms up and boost myself up but to my surprise, my left arm snapped from the force of falling so fast from so high . The excruciating pain coursing through my body made me want to just stay on the floor and quit, but I couldn’t take the chance of not being on my feet. When that monster comes back, I have to be ready.

Ever heard the saying “ Speak of The Devil and He Shall Appear”? Well guess who made their grand entrance. I decided to remove my already ripping, vomit and blood stained shirt so I could maneuver easier. As much as I would love to say, I was just now getting serious, I’ve been fighting at 130% this whole time. He flew over to the remains of debris and landed right next to Tenshi's burnt lifeless corpse. The nerve of this disgusting creature! To hover over Tenshi’s body when he’s the reason he's dead! The mere sight filled my soul with rage. I clenched my fist and felt another rush of energy swelling throughout my body.

“Aaagggghhh!!!”

The monster howled out in excruciating pain. I watched it but I still couldn't believe it. Tenshi’s burnt lifeless hand grabbed onto the monster’s ankles and he was.. well he was.. EATING IT!!!

I saw Tenshi take a bite of its calf muscles, ripped off his flesh and swallowed it. There was dark blue blood gushing out all over Tenshi’s burnt face and it screamed out as it tried pulling his foot away from Tenshi. I was beyond astonished.

Just as I thought he was done, Tenshi took five more mouthfuls of the monster’s flesh and swallowed each one.

You could even see it travel down his neck as he gulped his meal.

Though this sight totally stunned me, it wasn’t even the craziest part. With each bite, his body was regenerating and slowly but shortly, he started looking more alive. By the 5th bite he wasn’t even torched anymore.

Jolting my head, I realized I didn't have time to be spaced out. Every second was precious so I rushed toward the bastard while he was stomping on Tenshi’s head in an unsuccessful attempt to free itself. Closing in on the monster, the very moment he was within my range, I LET MY HANDS FLY!

I started off by smashing his left liver with my right hand. I could tell it was effective because he immediately held on to it and bent slightly to his left side while letting out a painfully sounding howl. Seeing the bastard in such despair and anguish filled me with absolute joy and pleasure.

This thing had been beating my ass non stop, but now it was finally my turn to have a field day.

I followed with a barrage of punches aimed for every inch of the monster's face. As each blow filled my body with increasing speed and power.

I threw an overhand left punch to his chin, drilled my left foot into his right knee and then fired a right hook to his temple.

Grabbing his head with my hands, I kneed him with my right knee. Landing, I clenched my hands together and hammered them straight into his head.

My expression was that of pure delight as I continued my barrage for 10 seconds straight.

To seal the deal, I gathered all the strength I could muster into my right hand, pulled it to my waist, planted my feet firmly on the ground and twisted my torso slightly to add more force to the fist as I drilled my fist straight into his falling nose.

The vast force of the impact sent it flying out of Tenshin’s hand and into the retail store across the plaza.

Taking that chance, Tenshi rose up from the floor with the pole still lodged into his chest.

“TENSHI!!!”, I cried out.

“HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?”

“I don’t really know how but I don’t give a damn. As long as I’m still breathing, I won't ask any questions.”

His face was covered in blue blood. It was covering his entire lips and was dripping down his chin. Even though I was certain it was Tenshi right in front of me, I was almost tempted to bring up my defense. His pupils were crimson red, his sclera went from white to a deep black color and his Iris which was normally a brown color was now gray.

“It’s crazy though… the whole time all I could hear was a voice in my head”, Tenshi said.

“What was it saying?”

“..Devour.. DeVOUR..DEVOUR!! Over and over again. Then I smelt something tasty close by so I just instinctively grabbed it, and here we are.”

I couldn’t help but be in total dismay. As he spoke I also realized that his teeth somehow look sharper now too, and his whole body seemed more muscular too. He was starting to look similar to the monster himself.

“Well the thing you decided to take a bite of is trying to kill us for some reason, and it’s what blew up the restaurant, so before anything else we have to make sure that thing is DEAD!!!

“So where is he?” Tenshi asked.

“I think I blew him somewhere towards the retail store. We have to go over there and finish him before he recovers. There's a chance he might rush us so be on your guard.”

“A bit too late”, a sinister voice said.

Before I could even blink, the bastard was standing in between us. I knew he was fast but this was something else. It's like he kicked his legs into high gear.

With warping speeds, the monster kneed Tenshi straight to his face. Before he could be sent flying from the force, the monster grabbed his left leg and proceeded to use him like a bat to hit me and send both of us crashing into a nearby jewelry store.

I heard supporting pillars break with every impact we landed on. The first impact was hard enough that I didn't even feel it; however, when my head crashed against a glass countertop, the pain set in instantly. My vision turned blurry as blood trickled down from my forehead.

Breaking all platforms we landed on, we eventually lost momentum and our fall was stopped by a concrete wall at the back of the store. After taking three deep breaths to recover some stamina, I struggled my way on my feet and viewed the area.

Tenshi was a couple steps north west from me and was already on his feet. I had a hunch he would strike me first so I focused everything I had on defense. After all, that seemed to be his favorite thing to do.

I kept my back to the wall so that I could limit the number of possible directions he would be coming from. I shifted myself in the same stance as earlier while scanning the area, waiting for his reappearance.

Destroying the concrete wall he attacked me from behind anyway. I don’t even know why I didn't see that coming.

He struck me with a blow from his left fist. A blow so heavy, I thought my spine snapped for a second. I stopped myself by gripping onto the floor with my feet. The floor in my feets path was destroyed as I slid forward and I eventually lost momentum from the blow.

Tenshi dashed towards us in hopes of sinking at least one attack in but he had no plans of donating any free hits. He began charging one of those black spheres from earlier and blasted it straight to us.

Immediately, I jumped in the way and acted as some kind of barrier. In that short span of a moment, I figured that since my defenses seemed abnormally strong I would be able to take the blow.

I held out my right palm and supported it with my left as the sphere made contact.

Just like last time, it erupted into a giant explosion the second it made contact.

I managed to just barely take the blast, and thinking back on it now, the guy who can literally heal should have definitely been the shield instead.

He rushed in and pinned me down by planting his feet on my back. Desperate to avoid what would come next, I mustered what little strength I had left and struggled to take myself off the ground with the force of his foot still weighing me downwards. As if I were nothing but an ant, he denied all hopes I had by stomping me back to the floor.

“HAHAHAHA!! I have to admit, your brother sure did surprise me back there but I see now that you're both nothing but garbage!”, he said.

(Tenshi’s perspective)

While this idiot was taking his sweet time taunting my brother and I, I grabbed a large piece of rubble from the ground and rushed towards him with all the speed I could summon to my legs. When I entered his range, I smashed the rumble in its head, sending him back to the wall. I was far from finished though. I dashed to his laid out body, passing my brother. All I remember feeling was the intense, burning desire to rip. His. Body. Apart!

(Back to Akuma)

The monster’s weight had vanished and I was finally free. I turned to see him laid out on the wall with the top of his head caved in. Tenshi leaped towards him with what seemed to be long claws. It was hard to confirm because they were completely black and were about 2 inches in length and were now extremely sharp but I could’ve sworn they were his fingernails.

He started to literally rip the monster apart with said claws by slashing repeatedly at its stomach in a mad frenzy. Tenshi pulled both hands back to his waist and then plunged both hands deep into the monster's stomach and ripped it wide open. His blood spewed everywhere and his intestines were dropping to the floor.

This was a chance of a lifetime so I had to keep it going. I rushed over, grabbed the intestines on the floor and yanked them out as hard as possible. The monster started screaming out while squirming in complete agony.

“WAIT!!...PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!! STOP THIS PLEASE!!!”

He begged us to stop while Tenshi and I were covered in his blood from head to toe. But of course we had absolutely zero intentions of stopping. No way in hell we could let him slide after all that he did. Both Tenshi and I looked at each other and it was as if our minds were in unison. We nodded.

Tenshi was on the very right, the bastard was in the middle and I was on the far left. As I raised my right leg, Tenshi raised his left leg. Then simultaneously we both lunged it straight into the monster’s head, destroying the concrete wall supporting it.

“AAAGGGHHH!! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY FOR WHAT I DID SO PLEASE STOP! ”

The monster was howling out in pain and pleading for us to cease, as if he seriously believed we would actually stop. To hear this bastard plea for mercy, was absolute ecstasy.

We stomped him in the head repeatedly, each blow with every drop of strength we could conjure up.

I wanted his head to disintegrate into ash. The adrenaline was still rushing through our body so we had no plans of ending anytime soon. I grabbed a large chunk of the wall next to me and looked Tenshi in his eyes. Understanding what I was trying to communicate, he also grabbed a piece of the wall. We took those pieces, and clapped his head in.

Taking rotations, I struck its head once and came back up. Then Tenshi took his turn and did the same right after. We repeated this seamless motion until the concrete pieces crumbled. He fell silent as his face melted into puddles of blood on the floor. His last breath was nothing but the sound of his teeth shattering into shards from our blows. I was partly regretful that he couldn't even make that pathetic noise again.

I felt my heart beating so hard and fast it almost exploded. All this time, I never imagined anything or anyone would ever be able to hurt so much, yet feel so good at the same time. There wasn’t even a head to observe anymore.

Not even any bones left, just a stain on the floor where his head should be and his blue blood pouring from his neck. We both fell to our knees while gasping for air, I was absolutely exhausted and from the looks of it Tenshi was’t much better off.

As this realization of victory flowed through my mind, I felt a sweet relief and satisfaction, then came the intense pain. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and the immense pain was starting to catch up to me. My pain tolerance was high but this was far too much to keep a hold of my conscience. I passed out and fell flat on my back.