Barnabas's Story

(So, I wont lie, I was actually working on this post on and off since last night. Its the intro post, and therefore I figured should be longer so that we could have a good, full introduction into the RP. I don't actually expect normal posting to (at least usually) be this long. I just wanted to get some good examples of both peaceful RP, and combat, and set a good setting for us to get into)

Zero woke up after the alarm clock went off. He had to remember to shut the damn thing off on Sunday. It was another great day in Starlight City, the city of dreams. More like nightmares, if you saw it the way Zero did. Zero was a demon hunter after all, and he saw the horrible things that happened in the background. He saw all the horrible things that lurked in the shadows. He saw the demons, and what they did. The people they hurt. He hated it all.

As Zero got out of bed, he looked around at his room. His apartment had four rooms. A bedroom, a large kitchen/living room, and a bathroom. He took off his clothes, and passed through the room into the bathroom. He pushed through the clear curtains and into the shower. He put on the hot water, and let himself relax. Which is why he got startled when Anna spoke up from outside the shower. "Morning Sleepyhead!"

Zero nearly freaked out when Anna did that. He immediately used a nearby towel for cover. "Anna! How many times do I have to tell you not to do this!"

Anna yanked the towel away, and sighed. "You really can be stupid, you know that? I am only a projection of my spirit. I see everything your eyes do, so I already saw you naked today. Also, you shouldn't get the towel wet. It will ruin it, plus if your towel is wet how will you dry yourself?"

Zero still blushed. Granted, he realized everything Anna said was true, and that he was embarrassed over a demonic spirit that could already see everything he sees and all of his memories was silly and probably stupid, but that did not stop his emotional reaction as he tried to cover himself with his hands. "Anna!"

"Alright, fine. I will start making breakfast" Anna told him, as she walked away. Zero really hated when she did that. But he was stuck with her for the rest of his life. She was also one of the only spirits that could physically manifest in this world, though she could never do anything against Zero. Well, except for harmless things like stealing his towel and what not.

Once Zero got out of the shower and they (he) ate breakfast, Zero grabbed his skateboard and took off. It was a beautiful day, and he thought that maybe he could get through it without any trouble. Anna was nagging him about not stealing anything, which along with a tendency to be more aggressive then normal and a bit prone to fighting. How was it that the demon was the responsible one between the two of them?

Then, Zero saw it. The demon aura. He immediately took cover behind a statue as his dagger appeared in his hand, appearing volcanic as it was black with red lines of energy that looked like lava flowing through it. He used his Piercing Sight, and then he saw it. The boy playing in the fountain had the soul of a demon. He knew what that meant, it meant the boy was either possessed, or was a demon himself. "Anna, recognize him?"

"Not specifically, but he matches the description of Arthur, known to your people as Avantine. Responsible for the Springville Church Bombing according to rumor, and he prefers to play with his victims. One of his favorite....past times....is to make the youngest child of the family murder the rest of them via possession, after causing the body to inflect great wounds on itself in front of them. Then, he would let the police know the story it wanted them too, and leaves" Anna told him. "A real monster".

"No wonder the reading is so strong" Zero mentioned, keeping his distance. If Zero could sense him at this range, its possible the demon might sense Zero back if he got any closer. And there were too many other children and innocents around. Besides, with this guy's reputation, he might actually injure the body he was in. Most demons avoid that, but this one....this one was a special case.

Zero would have to be careful. He looked back over at the demon, and he saw it....luring another child over behind some bushes. He immediately ran towards them both. "Damnit! He is going to eat that kid's soul!"

Once he turned the corner, he already saw the pure blue soul being pulled out of its body by a red aura emanating from the demon. Anna was disgusted, and Zero was not sure it was the affects of his soul purifying hers that caused that. According to her, demons typically do not consume the souls of children because they taste too pure, that it weirds them out. So Anna watching another demon eat a human child soul just freaked her out.

Avantine threw the human aside, the soul still not fully back in the body, and glared at them. "Demon Hunter....well now, this should be interesting. Dark Storm!"

All of a sudden, the weather got incredibly stormy, and clouds blotted out the sun. However, as Avantine turned to attack them, Zero was already right in front of him. THe demon panicked. How the fuck did he get right next to me? I never heard him take a step! Zero then stabbed him with his dagger, and he smiled. "If you kill me like this, you kill this child too".

And then the demon saw it. Zero did not flinch at all from those words. He looked down, and realized the dagger had not pierced the body normally...but magically. And then he realized what the Demon Hunter could do. Before he could react, Zero already did. "Soul Rip!"

Avantine's soul was ripped from the human body, which passed out and fell to the ground unconscious, and landed in the field in his demon form. Avantine considered himself lucky that he had already blocked out the sun, but still, he did not expect the Demon Hunter to possess a move like that. And then, that was when he saw her. "Azestella. Now this all makes sense, you are fused with the one demon who could rip a soul out of a body. Though, she used to only use it on humans, to enslave them. I thought you were dead, but I guess the Vanguard got you".

He then realized they were both laughing at him. Even Azestella, who could apparently physically manifest her spirit, was laughing at him. "Anna, you never told me he was so tiny!"

"Oh you little...now you both die! Firestorm barrage!" Avantine yelled, launching two dozen fireballs at them. However, the demon hunter dodged them all, jumping into the air with incredible speed, so fast Avantine did not see him jump but only go up. However, now he had him. "You can't dodge now! Dark Strike!"

He shot a lightning bolt of darkness right at Zero, except suddenly his body shot to the right and dodged the attack mid-air, before shooting right towards him. Avantine then realized too late, Zero was using Azestella's Sonic powers to boost his speed and move without taking a step, which was how he got so close without him hearing, and how he jumped up so high, and how he dodged mid air. But he had one trick. Right as Zero got close, he cut off Zero's right arm with his blade. "Checkmate".

"Not quite" Zero told him, as they all watched his arm immediately re-attach. "You see, my name is Zero, and you cannot divide Zero. And when you get divided by Zero....you get reduced to nothing!"

Zero extended the blade, and cut Avantine in half, destroying his body, causing Demonic residue to get everywhere, and revealing his soul. Zero then destroyed it. Anna smiled. "Glad he is gone. He might not be one of the most powerful, but he was one of the worst. Anyways, shall we continue enjoying our day off?"

"No arguments here" Zero told her, as he picked up his skateboard. "Besides, I got a text from Danny during the battle. He wants to play a game of basketball in a bit".

"Oh boy, please don't destroy everything this time! You two always go too far!" Anna told him.

(Extra long Intro post complete!)

---

”Peh,” Unwin huffed, crimson eyes burning a fierce glow as the demon lurked in the dark abyss that was the young boy’s mind. ”The more noteworthy demons are all elsewhere; yet here we linger with you practicing on thin air.” Displeased and sullen, it was rare to expect anything else from Unwin. Very rare.

”Shaddup already.” Barnabas snapped in response, the blade dancing through the air as it glided across the strong breeze; tip spinning skyward in a single swift motion as the green essence radiated over the sharp point. ”Practice makes perfect after all, but then again I hardly need it, right?”

”Oh... of course not,” the demon sighed somewhat dryly, eyes musing briefly through the child's orbs and taking in the world around them; the wave of bodies passing by down below, the dull slates creaking under foot… the cotton clouds drifting slowly in the sky above. ”But what if you were to hit someone with that scythe of yours? Now that would be a terrible pity.”

The lad chuckled to himself, ”Any poor fool who finds themselves on the receiving end of my blade better watch where they're goin' next time,” Barnabas remarked with a small grin, brows raised with a mischievous arch. ”Then again, anyone dumb enough to get hit by my scythe well, there might not be a next time for them – heh.” The isolated roof, stuck on top of some old building in town, was an ideal area to practice on and out of the public eye. Not that Barnabas was being particularly careful though, swinging the scythe about wildly as he did and stumbling about the place, aiming for this and that which only accumulated to thin air, but still. ”Anyway let’s go, I’m bored up here.”

With a snap of his wrist and twirling his fingers, the blade dispersed into nothing; subtle green remnants fading with the wind as all that remained was the dark, sturdy pole held in the boy’s hands. After all, a scythe would raise questions amongst the public, wouldn’t it? Barnabas had little patience with questions and wasn’t in the mood for answering them either. ”So where are we going?” Unwin quizzed with a partial hint of curiosity just then, ”Dare I ask; anywhere fun?” A silent response for an answer, the demon shtummed himself, eyes narrowing in the darkness within.

Then, leaning on the balls of his feet the boy pushed off suddenly, and sprang from the roof and down to the ground below. An audible crack quickly filling the air upon landing; his ankle twisting too sharply, Barnabas tried to suppress a wince and staggered forward. ”Smart,” the demon quipped, ”Fall even harder and your bones may break apart, or worse.” Pushing the nagging voice aside Barnabas was quick to refocus, setting a hand to the back of the nearest person closest to him as the boy pushed on ahead.

”Oi!” A woman squeaked in surprise when a foreign hand set upon her, ”Hey--” Another yelled, the child roughly maneuvering through the crowd of adults without so much as a care or thought, moving whoever got in his way effectively out the way. Barnabas never liked adults anyway, loathing those older than him and believing themselves better in every sense. ”Well excuse you,” Some man snapped, the grey-haired lad shoving the elder male aside with a forceful push and moving past, giving only a mere grunt in disapproval to the man.

With an ever so slight limp the boy hurried on ahead of the crowd as best he could, the remains of his would-be scythe bobbing along at his back and bouncing in frantic rhythm to his movements. ”Whatever,” he scoffed, running a hand lazily through his hair and toying with one of his hair clips. ” Wonder what the other losers are up to anyway. Seems a pity to leave them in peace for so long. Ha!” Barnabas laughed loudly, turning the corner and carrying on down the street.

---

Unwin flinched from within, straining the boys eyes ahead to the end of the street as an all too familiar presence tickled at his curiosity. ”Siem,” he insisted when sensing the other demon that lurked within the small girl; orbs radiating their trademark crimson upon forcing the boy to carry on down the path. ”Do you see--”

”Blue!” Barnabas rudely interrupted the demon, regaining control over his form and bustling down the rest of the street, before coming face to face with the violet-haired female. Well, not entirely of course, given that the little girl had her face glued to the ground as per usual. ”What’ve I said about not looking where you’re going? You could wonder onto a road and get hit, you dunce.” Not necessarily meaning to sound scolding, Barnabas found it to be a habit he couldn’t quite shake off when setting both hands on his hips; at least when it only concerned Dorothy, who had the uncanny ability to drag out his more attentive nature.

”Dunce?” Unwin quietly remarked, his own thoughts buzzing around the youths head. ”What is that? Hm.”

”Anyway,” Barnabas said with a tilt of his head. ”Looks like your heading in the direction of Chickburgerz.” It wouldn’t exactly be his first point of call, although the boy knew many of the other hunters usually gathered at the place. A reason perhaps why he wouldn’t normally linger there without good cause. ”Don’t tell me; is Siem actually letting you go there for once? My, your demon must be turning into a big old softie.” He slyly teased and shot a look at the smaller child, as if challenging the very demonic force in question that lay beyond the girl’s eyes. Heck even Unwin, surprisingly as it was, gave out a subtle chuckle of amusement to the boy’s comment. After all, even the demon himself wasn’t beyond petty mocks to rattle up his fellow demons.

”Let me take you there and if any bad demons come I’ll give ‘em a swift kicking, got it?” Barnabas said, quickly snaking an arm round the girls shoulders and pulling her gently beside him. ”Maybe once we’re there I’ll tell you an awesome story too, if you want? I know how much you like those.”

With that said he began to lead the way once receiving approval; guiding the small girl through the waves of people that crowded their path and towards Chickburgerz. It wasn’t too far away thankfully, and once arriving there Barnabas could already recognize a few of the hunters already inside and eating away, from what he saw through the window. It almost disgusted him in some way, somehow, making the boy almost wish that some demon would suddenly attack and cause a tiny bit of chaos; just for kicks. With that in mind he looked down to the little girl at his side and sharply remarked, ”Remember, be careful and stick close to me, ok? Bassy knows best.”

When Lance entered the Chickburgerz, his first thought was to sit on the table everyone else was at but Rue began to drag him somewhere else. He just allowed himself to be dragged despite remembering a few events that transpires when he was with Rue, one such event when a woman was yelling profanities directed at him and tried to separate him and Rue on the account that she thought he was a pedophile. After remembering that event, he thought it was much safer with one kid then a whole group of kids. Who knew what would happen if he sat on a table surrounded by kids? He would probaly be the talk of the town in a very bad way and have a few police officers haul him off to jail.

Rue eventually climbed off of Lance's head and gave him a pat on the arm before telling him he was a "good car, good boy" which earned another sigh from him. Rue soon began to pull his arm, trying to drag him away from the others and telling him that they should sit on one of the empty tables. He then gave up holding his ground when Rue began to pull on him forcibly and made his way over to the table and sat across from her.

As Lance examined the menu, ignoring the feet that was on his legs, he heard Rue speak up. "Lance, Lance! We should play fight one day, okay?" He then looked up at her and saw her grinning with delight. "I need to practice! It'll be fun, I promise!" He thought for a minute as he looked back at the menu, should he play fight with her? Sure he was lazy but his demon would never let and oppurtunity like this pass. And just as he thought about his demon, he appeared right next to him with his arms crossed.

"Lance, you will accept her offer to fight."

"Oh come on Araghast, I don't want to exert myself in a very tough battle."

"Then how about this, if you don't accept her offer I will force you to train for seven whole days, all day and night"

Lance then began to weigh both of those options, fight for maybe thirty minutes to an hour in a single fight, or spend an entire week and be forced to do anything his demon threw at him. "Well Rue, you got yourself a fighting companion." Lance replied as he decided on a fried chicken sandwich and cup of Pepsi as his meal.

He soon looked out of the window and saw a very...strange...sight. There was a strange man dressed in a twin tailed coat, and black and white striped shirt under some overalls, selling some balloons. He didint see anything suspicious about it, but his demon had a different opinion. "I suggest you remember that man Lance...There is something off about him." Lance just waved away his worry and got ready to take another power nap to wait for his food.

Zero and Anna both noticed it, their senses peaking as they felt the demonic aura for half a second, and a lingering stink of demonic magic. Zero used his piercing gaze technique, to actually look for the demonic soul specifically, but had no such luck. It was as if this thing, if it was really there, had Danny's cloak ability, Lance's calm thinking, Rue's....crazy, Daisy's determination, and Zero's guts. How and why else would a demon come some close to them, yet just slip through their fingers before they got a chance to react? This was more then just a demon hunting them. This demon already knew who they were, and it already had its sights on them. And it had to be powerful. Avoiding the Aura sense was one thing, but Piercing Gaze? Zero could usually see right through cloaking spells.

But, since they could not tell who or where the demon was, they could not act or react. They were just trapped there, in that one booth, with all their friends, like sitting ducks in a restaurant. Zero was extremely on edge, but he tried to keep his cool since everyone else was there.

He snapped out of it though when Rue threw Candy into his face. "Okay, okay, I get it".

Of course, as he finished his meal, his phone went off. A very specific ringtone. Everyone elses phones and communicators and PDAs and what not would also be going off at the same time. Zero slammed his hands down on the table, and time slowed down in the entire place except for them and their phones. Zero activated the speaker option on his phone, and put it on the table. Luckily for Zero, by not having to move at all, "Talk fast".

A hologram of a place formally known as Sky Tower projected from his phone. "A new Hunt is on. We have located a powerful demon, that will likely require several hunters to eliminate. His name is Razakar, a Nightmare Demon. He has been slowly draining the human souls of this building to bolster his powers in addition to keeping up a normal intake of souls. He is located on the 13th floor, but the whole building is warded except for the first. Climb the tower from the inside, and eliminate the demon. The Hunt is on".

Time returned to normally instantly, Zero did not normally use it that long but they were in a public place so it had to be done. Still, his time powers would be out of commission for a bit, so that was annoying.

"Well guys, looks like we are all getting called in on this one. Let's get to work" Zero said as he stood up and started heading towards the door, Anna following behind him.

---

---

Rue was ecstatic. The fight was official - at some point, she'd finally get to show off her stuff to her big brother, Lance. Every bit of the sadist's body tensed in anticipation, hoping that she'd get the opportunity to strike soon. It was wonderful and amazing and more than winning or losing, she wanted it to be a long, strenuous struggle that took her to her limits. It was rare that a fight actually forced her to go all out - which was a shame, since that was where Rue truly felt as if she were alive. She made giddy little noises to herself that sounded something like a child would make when waiting for night to fall on the night before her birthday in order to open the presents. Her nerves tingled and crackled and she felt her cheeks heating up in pre-battle lust.

"Thank you, Lance!" Rue chirped, though she was really talking to Araghast than anything else. Irina made pleasing hissing noises from within Rue, happy at the development. "Let's make it really long and painful for both of us!"

Then Rue's nerves hit a fever pitch, bursting with tension - an urge to fight that was more immediate than her usual lust. Rue even felt her breath shortening into quick, excited pants and the muscles in her legs screamed for her to move. This could only mean one thing: a demon was nearby. Though - .... where, exactly? Every part of the girl was pricked up and she hung on to every little sensation, desperately trying to get a lead on the demon before any of her allies wanted to ruin the fun (mostly Daisy, urgh).

"Do you sense it?" Irina asked, taking on an uncharacteristically serious expression. "You do, right? It's close, but definitely much more powerful than usual. Be careful."

Then all of a sudden, time seemed to stop. Rue immediately twisted over to glance at Zero - who else but him, right? Her own phone was buzzing but she ignored it, focusing on the hologram of the Sky Tower. Rue quickly digested the information she needed - Sky Tower, 13th floor, climb from inside, and demon. For a moment, Rue's face twisted into a wicked predatory grin that was quickly replaced with a cutesy smile. "I'm sorry, Lance, but I'll drive myself this time." She said in a sing song voice, teleporting out of Chickburgerz via the window to get a headstart on Zero. With a combination of sprinting and teleportation, Rue navigated the rooftops and was the first to reach the Sky Tower when -

"Wait, wait, Rue." Irina warned loudly. "I know you want to rush in and fight, but I promise, you'll want everyone else for this. This one's too strong for anyone on their own." The girl observed the entrance to the Sky Tower from a ledge high in the air on an opposite building, gritting her teeth in frustration. She wanted to fight. She thirsted for it! And now she was being denied it?

"I'm so hungry!" The girl hissed, almost as if it caused her physical pain to sit still. "I want to kill it! Iriiiinaaaaaa!"

Irina sighed apologetically, patting Rue on the shoulder. "Let's wait for the others before heading in, okay? You know I wouldn't delay you unless it really was too dangerous."

The soothing words did nothing to assuage the lust but the huntress nodded after a long pause, bringing her thumb to her mouth to chew violently on the nail, drawing blood and tearing the skin entirely by accident, and not noticing the pain whatsoever.

Danny started cracking some jokes as they ate, mentioning how Lance should try not training or sleeping and actually living a little, when Zero brought up the briefing. The demon they would be hunting was no joke, if it was keeping up a diet and siphoning souls from a whole building. The thing would be supercharged, and who knew what waited within.

Which was why, as soon as it ended, Danny bolted towards the place. Barry appeared next to him as he got close. "You know we demons have a name for this, right? We call them Nightmare towers. Supposedly, demons siphon off soul energy to give to Lucifer or one of hte other big bad demons, in exchange for additional power. This Nightmare tower does not have thirteen floors by coincidence. It was designed like that on purposefully. The thirteenth floor won't show up on the outside of the building. We will have to reach it there by climbing the tower one floor at a time...and it will not be pleasant. Nightmare Towers have....nasty defenses....in place. Each floor, you will be subjected to a different terrifying scenario".

"How do you know so much about Nightmare Towers, and how much do you know about Nightmare Towers?"

"I used to run one, before I got caught" Barry admitted. "Each Nightmare Tower has thirteen floors, and each Nightmare tower has different challanges on each room depending on the demon's preference. The more common ones involve watching loved ones die, public nudity, and facing your deepest darkest fears. Oh, and every attack made against you will be one hundred percent real....and each one could be your last".

As he finished, Danny and Barry arrived at the building. "Hey Barry, if you could physically manifest yourself like Anna can, that could help. You have not tried recently, maybe you will have more success this time".

"Alright, here goes nothing" Barry said. He focused really hard and tried to force it, before physically manifesting himself....as a skull. "Well, its progress".

Danny just gave a fake smile. "Yeah, totally. Now, lets go!"

Danny grabbed the door handle before Barry could stop him, and he was teleported inside the building, having missed the teleportation runes all over the handles, doors, windows, and every other exit and entrance.

Danny found himself now in the first room, with a talking skull. Across the room, his first challange awaited. It was....Barry's full and true demonic form at full power.

"Oh crap" they both said together.




(Name and Level fully approved and created by Perks)

"Blue!"

Dorothy would have heard that voice from a mile away. She remained motionless with her gaze still glued to the ground, but her hidden smile grew wider the further he approached her.

"Bassy," both she and Siem said at once, Dorothy sounding pleasantly surprised and Siem sounding like this was the last person he wanted to see. Barnabas marched right up to her and began to scold her as per usual, which she took happily with a grain of salt and a nod. Tilting her head up, she felt her chest become lighter upon simply seeing him. She saw past his confident smirk to the one who lay beneath and offered a little grin, "Unwin. Good morning."

Dorothy liked Bassy and was one of the very few who did. In missions they would often pair off together, not only because Dorothy's power of seeing someone's most traumatic memory and Bassy's power of creating illusions were a match made in Vanguard heaven, but also because they both didn't believe they needed the others. With her being too nervous around people because of her powers and him generally being an ass, it was only natural that they'd fool themselves into believing that. Dorothy placed her trust in Bassy the same way anyone would put their trust in the grass being green.

"... My, your demon must be turning into a big old softie.”

Dorothy's smile dropped immediately and she looked guiltily away, knowing that one of the reasons Siem didn't like Bassy was because he constantly bit away chunks of the old demon's pride. However, she also believed that he didn't like him because they were too alike, something they both would never admit to. Siem sighed and Dorothy could picture him exasperatedly flipping his hair the way he always did.

"This child," he muttered, "I don't understand the connection. He has a terrible influence on you."

"... You don't understand a lot of things, Siem..." she whispered, frowning slightly at the demon calling Bassy a bad influence, when obviously he was the worst. She gasped as Bassy suddenly pulled her in towards him, not expecting the gesture, but nothing happened. Her face flared up and she buried in in her sleeve, still uncomfortable with being so close, but reassuring herself that it was fine. Trying to distract herself from her headache, she glanced down and nodded excitedly at the prospect of being told a story. Bassy told his stories so passionately she could almost see it happening around her, or maybe that was just his illusions. Maybe he could bring the book she attempted earlier to life? Bassy guided her through the crowds and she tried her best to avoid touching anyone else. He was doing a good job at making other people steer clear with all the pushing and shoving and whatnot. This behavior wasn't exactly unlike him, Dorothy didn't like to admit, but it wouldn't happen without reason. She then noticed the limp.

He's hurt, she pointed out to Siem by thought.

"Your ability to state the obvious never ceases to bore me, doll."

... Um... am I being used as a walking stick?

Siem inhaled deeply and began in a drawl, "It seems that his own needs come before his consideration of your reluctance to touch others, which is not out of character for the proud little snot. Use this empty head of yours for something and think. Has he ever asked you for anything?"

Dorothy unfortunately didn't have to think for long on that one, but she didn't want to think badly of Bassy. He must have just forgotten. That's right. She scolded her demon and removed Bassy's arm from her with a barely audible, "No thank you." As soon as the source of her nervousness was gone, she could already breath easier. As they approached Chickburgerz, something caught her eye to the right. She stopped walking and looked over at a man. He was a strange looking man surrounded by children sporting balloons. This man seemed to be beckoning over at the window of the fast food joint and nobody else on the street appeared to be paying him any attention. One of the children spotted her and waved, gesturing her over to him. She glanced at Bassy limping away just a little ahead of her to find he hadn't noticed that she had stopped yet, being the girl of little presence she was. She took a few sidesteps right.

"Don't do it, doll. That's a bad idea."

Dorothy froze. Her desire for a balloon dissipated and while she gave the strange scene one last lingering look, she realised something that disturbed her. She couldn't feel their emotions. Feeling under pressure, she ran up to Bassy and was about to tug on his sleeve when he swung around to her.

”Remember, be careful and stick close to me, ok? Bassy knows best.”

"Like hell if he does!"

"I know," she replied distractedly, ignoring Siem. At that moment, a figure sprang from a window out of nowhere and sprinted past them at such a speed it left Dorothy's hair in disarray. She stared after the girl as she teleported out of sight. "Was that... Rue?" Rue was soon followed by a blue haired boy that burst out of the entrance to Chickburgerz and dashed past them with not even an acknowledgement. "Danny...?" A familiar beeping sounded from Bassy's pocket and she winced, knowing full well what that tone meant. "... I wanted... I wanted to have a happy day..."

Daisy

As she watched the strange man outside time suddenly slowed down dramatically. The thoughts around her were low hums. Tones and noises all stretched out to great lengths. At that very same moment everyone's phones rang. Zero had used his time manipulation to slow down time to a near crawl while they answered the call from HQ. She personally had pulled out her own phone and listened in to the instructions, looking back over at the projection from Zero's phone.

After the briefing she hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket. Thirteen Floors...

"It has to be. A nightmare tower... How appropriate for a nightmare demon."


And like that they were all off. She ran after the rest of them though she knew that she'd probably be close to last in arriving. Just as she exited the restaurant however she ran into two other demon hunters, Dorothy and Bassy. From what she could read Bassy felt just as cocksure as usual but Dorothy felt what closest resembled disappointment. Daisy often worried for Dorothy as she was the youngest demon hunter in the city and she had a demon who was, put simply enough, a jerk.

Though she was younger than her and less experienced Daisy didn't look down on her talents as Dorothy was a far better mind reader than her, easily putting her telepathy to shame. She knew that such potency was a double edged sword however, leaving Dorothy exposed to far stronger stimuli. Such magic could be dangerous in the wrong circumstances, hence why she often made sure to help out whenever she was around.


"Hey Dorothy, Hey Bassy." She greeted them both before coming up to Dorothy. |Is something wrong?| She telepathically spoke directly to her mind in an attempt at being mindful of her company. She didn't want to make Dorothy feel like she was being put on the spot in front of her peer. As much as she'd of liked to stay and hear Dorothy out however duty pressed her mind harder with every passing second. "Let's talk on the way. Don't want to keep the others waiting, especially Rue." She motioned for them to follow and started back on her way towards the tower.

She went fast to compensate for the fact that she was one of the slower ones in the group but she also made sure she wasn't too far from Dorothy. Even running most of the other hunters could outpace her easily but she always trained so she could keep up. That way if her powers ever failed her she'd have something to fall back to in such emergency. As for Dorothy she could easily get well ahead of her if she used her ribbons to pull her ahead however in a public street with people around she hoped she would use her weapon with discretion.


Eventually she arrived at Sky Tower, the building which housed Razakar. She stopped short of the door, looking around to see who else was here. Given her pace it was quite likely most of them were already here waiting for her to show. She didn't see Danny at the destination but that wasn't unusual given he was one of the few others who could go invisible. She was about to step in when she spotted the teleportation runes marked around the entrance. "Watch out for the runes on the door. We want to make sure we get through more or less at the same time." She warned others that might of been going for the entrance.

"Anyone see Danny here?" She asked in general, wondering if the others knew where he went. She hoped he didn't get stuck in there already.

---

Hearing the recognizable beep that chimed from his phone and buzzed in his pocket, Barnabas was quick to retrieve and produce the small device in his hand; knowing already what was to come or at least he could guess just as easily. ”A new hunt is to commence,” Unwin commented while listening on vaguely to the information presented to him, ”A nightmare demon in a nightmare tower, how fitting. Thirteen floors no less.” Barnabas on the other hand was silent for the moment, digesting the facts and accumulating his thoughts before slipping the phone back into his pocket.

”Hey Dorothy, Hey Bassy.” A voice suddenly spoke, snagging the boys immediate attention as Barnabas glanced between Dorothy and Daisy, who appeared beside them. ”Well if it isn’t Lazy Daisy,” The boy retorted sharply, offering a sideways glance to the older of the two females. However, their time was cut short as much of the gang had already departed for the destination; at record pace which even surprised Barnabas, which was only supported after when hearing, ”Let's talk on the way. Don't want to keep the others waiting, especially Rue.” To which the boy gave a nod.

”Heaven forbid we kept that crybaby waiting.” Barnabas sighed somewhat sarcastically as the small group progress on towards the Tower. Though of course, if he wanted to the boy could have sprung on ahead limp or not; but with Dorothy with him Barnabas would hardly drop the girl and run, and so he walked with the girls, even if Daisy was usually one of the slower if not slowest hunter out of the bunch. ”Don’t fret about it Blue. You’ll still have a happy day, I’ll make sure of it.” Barnabas offered some words of comfort to the little girl as they walked, knowing that the tower was not what either had in mind, and yet it was hardly a thing they could ignore. Duty was the most important thing, after all.

By the time they arrived at the Tower more or less everyone else was already there seemingly waiting for the go-ahead. From up on a ledge on a close by building Barnabas spotted Rue perched on the spot, almost practically sensing the girls eagerness to advance and finding it just a little bit amusing. Danny wasn’t there however, but Barnabas was hardly concerned by that fact. ”The fool’s probably inside and ahead knowing him,” he remarked in response to Daisy, rolling his eyes just a little for dramatic effect. ”Hope nothing bad has happened to him... at least not without me bearing witness to it first of course, heh.”

With that single thought burning in his mind and promptly reaching behind him, Barnabas grabbed at the end of the pole and swung it round in one sole motion; giving a sharp twirl in his hand and flexing his arms in place. Quickly after and with a passing thought, the green essence manifested itself into the blade of the weapon, perfectly forming the scythe to it's proper shape. ”Chances are I’ll be the first to reach the 13th floor, so that demon will be mine to wipe out,” the boy confidently stated in general, ”Unless anyone is up for challenging that fact 'course.”

Lance woke up not to the sound of his food being placed on the table, but to the sound of all the demon hunter phones going off at the same time. He groaned as he fumbled around his pockets to grab his phone, ignoring as the patrons around them seemed to slow down. As he listened to the instructions his heart began to pound faster and his blood began to boil, a hunt was on for a nightmare demon and he was eager for a fight. "Well looks like we are going hungry for this fight partner." Lance exclaimed and he bounded of his chair and ran full speed out of the Chickburgerz.

"Looks like today's hunt is going to be a dangerious one Lance, you know the drill for these types of missions right?"

"Yeah, we usually group up and come up with a plan."

"The demon might be prepared for us to charge in together, so what do we suppose we do to take it by surprise."

"That's simple, we barge through the front door and destroy everything that gets in our way!"

"Now your getting into the spirit Lance! Now ready your weapon!"

After their conversation, Lance summoned his weapon in a puff of black and red flames as he continued to run. After seeing the tower and everyone else waiting in front of it, he just kept on running full speed at the door. "Last one in pays for the food next time!" Lance exclaimed as he attempted to drop kick the door open, only to be teleported inside the tower and hit nothing but air. "That could have gone better..." Lance groaned as he slowly got off the ground and dusted himself off.

As Lance looked across the room, he saw Aragast in his true demonic form waiting on the other side and carrying a massive battle axe the size of a truck, and to add to the sheer intimidation factor, it was on fire. "So my first fight is against a clone of you...At least I can pretend that thing is actually you..." Lance mumbled the last part as he got in his fighting position.

(WHAT THE FUCK WEBSITE. NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE MY POST GOT DELETED! WTF!) (Anyways, so now I am just speeding through this because I am fucking pissed) (Also, showing off future floors so people know what to expect)

As Zero arrived, he saw Lance get teleported inside. He also noticed Danny was not here, and therefore realized he must already be inside. "No way I am letting him beat me!"

Zero grabbed the door, and was teleported inside as well...

Level 1: Inner Demon Reflection

Zero and Anna, unlike everyone else who would come face to face with their inner demon soul's demonic form at full power that will be immune to all of their magical abilities due to the fact they have them as well, came face to face with Anna's Spirit Form. "What is going on here?"

Anna Clone just stepped to the site. "Your Demon has no malicious intent inside it. Please go to the next floor, and stop this demon. Also, Anna, you need to remember the truth if you ever want to harmonize".

Before they could get a reply in, the two of them were teleported to the next floor.

Level 2: The Suffering Witness

Zero and Anna arrived on the second level, only to see all of their friends, family, and loved ones chained up and being tortured to death. Zero almost rushed into to save them, but Anna stopped him. "This is all an illusion. If you look away or try to help them, it will reset. If you try to cover your ears, it will reset. And then everything inside this room will try to kill you. So please, as hard as this is, you have to watch this and listen".

Zero started to cry a little as he was forced to hear and watch this all. But when it was finally over, they were teleported to the next floor.

Level 3: Shadow Slasher

Zero and Anna now found himself in a standard hallway, with a door on the other end marked exit. Zero shrugged, and walked forward, only to be attacked and knocked backwards by seven different shadows.

"Well, this is going to be harder then expected" Zero said as he got up. "Guess its time to get to it".

(2000 word long post anyone? Hahaha... sorry ._. I was wondering if Rue should go first but then was like, y'know what? We're separated anyway and people are already inside.)



Dorothy couldn't help but feel guilty at Daisy worrying for her. Every other Demon Hunter she knew was fully devoted to the cause and ready to throw away everything for the sake of duty. They wouldn't understand her lack of eagerness, surely. She shoved these thoughts aside in paranoia that Daisy would read them and tried to get herself excited at the prospect of bloodshed like everyone else, but it was hard.

It's OK, she lied to Daisy as she walked, I'm OK. I stayed up late last night. It was stupid of me. She smiled at Bassy telling her that she'd have a happy day, although she knew it probably wasn't going to happen. "I believe you."

When they reached the building, the first thing she noticed was the fearful aura. She could tell it was from the inside as it felt as though it was being sifted through a sieve, much like the Demon Hunters' emotions which she had to focus on to sense. She knew that it was going to be stronger once they entered. She spotted Rue looking over everyone impatiently and quickly averted her eyes. Scanning everyone else, she felt disappointed to not see... um, a particular other with them. Danny had apparently already rushed in like the idiot he could be sometimes and by the looks of things, Bassy was also planning on taking it alone.

"We shouldn't do this alone," she urged, looking straight at him. It seemed that nobody else could feel the fear being emitted from this tower. Of course they couldn't. Not yet, anyway. "This place is trying to scare me, I don't think we should act rashly -" Lance dashed out of nowhere and went to drop kick the door. "Lance, wait!" He was already gone and was soon followed by Zero. She jolted and ran after him. "If Razakar was expecting us to go in together, whatever lying behind thisdooristoomuchforthemtodefeatalone!" She hurriedly yelped out a reasonable excuse so fast that her words fused together.

Level 1: Inner Demon Reflection

As soon as Dorothy touched the handles to follow, she was teleported inside the building. "Zero? Lance? Where did you both go -" Her eyes widened as she realised nobody else was there with her. She twisted around to look at her other companions, but they hadn't appeared. She waited a dozen seconds for them to follow, but they didn't. She was alone.

"What? No..." she protested weakly, running back to the giant doors and tugging at the handles. She pulled with all her might then knocked her fists against the wood, desperate to be let back out. "Excuse me, where did you go? I'm trapped in here without you! Bassy?" She tried her hardest to project her pleads to Daisy by thought, but something told her that she couldn't hear her.

"She can't hear you," Siem, the something, told her bluntly. Dorothy cowered by the door, resting her forehead against it and trying to swallow her anxiety. Her entire surroundings held the stench of fear, just as she knew they would. Something was heaving behind her, something large and beastly that she was afraid to look at. Slowly, with her heart beating dangerously, she turned around and gulped.

It was a giant with a grey, skeletal figure that seemed to be decaying. Its head was covered by the skull of an animal, but through its black eye sockets she saw furious stars. In one hand it held a massive blade while in the other it held a ball of flames. It must have been at least 30 Dorothys tall and it was staring straight down at her, panting like a dog anticipating a kill.

"What is that thing...?" She whispered beneath her breath without thinking. Siem coughed.

"That thing is... a cheap imitation. A reflection."

"What do mean an imitation?" Dorothy asked in full earnest, "Whatever it's imitating is horrific."

"To a simple human, perhaps."

The monster didn't seem to be doing anything, just staring like it was waiting for her to move. She slowly raised her hands and undid a few buttons of her dress to expose a red gem on her chest. She knocked on it twice, not removing her gaze from the demon. "Come out, Toto."

Hundreds of thin red and black ribbons burst from her chest, wrapping her up like a mummy. They eventually stopped whipping around her when the only bit of her body exposed was her eyes, which she opened to stare at the demon.

"If you're not going to move, I will..." she murmured and ribbons shot from her.

"Wait doll, don't -"

The ribbons pierced through the demon's chest and hissing steam escaped through the tiny wounds. Dorothy wound her hands around her weapons and dashed to the right before jumping up and letting them pull her into the air as she swung around. She shot a few more ribbons at its back and was yanked in for a landing. Scrambling up its spine and over its shoulder, the ribbons around her right hand unraveled. Another one of her projectiles shot up to loop around the horn of the demon and she flew into the air before throwing herself to land on its face. She stared into its eye socket, her hand glowing with a purple aura.

"Nightmare Demon... what makes you scream?" She uttered before shoving her arm into the socket like a spear. She winced at the jelly that enveloped her hand and prepared herself for the memories... which didn't come. "What?" Come to think of it, the demon hadn't even moved at all while she was scuttling over him like an annoying jumping spider. It didn't even make a noise when she pierced its eye with her hand. Something was very wrong here...

"You made a bad move, doll..."

The demon made a sound like it was laughing. Its jaw creaked open slowly and Dorothy realised that she was in a very bad position as air was sucked into the gaping mouth of the beast, reminding her of the tide before a tsunami. Then it roared. Dorothy held on to whatever she could grip, her ears popping, but the demon was shaking too much. She flew off the skull and her ribbons drew back to her, but there was nothing she could do fast enough to stop her from slamming into the opposite wall. Small cracks formed on impact and she peeled away, dropping to the floor with an "oof".

"You complete... and utter... dunce..." Siem grunted through gritted teeth, "You tried to see its weakness through its memories, didn't you?"

"I know that I'm small and weak for a Demon Hunter. I thought that if I had its weakness, I could -" Dorothy managed as she tried to get up and wipe eye goop on the floor, but Siem cut her off.

"No, no, no. What did I tell you? It's a reflection. It's not a demon, it's a demon spell. A separate entity created from Razakar's powers. It's hardly alive, not to mention it only came into existence a minute ago! What traumatic memory could you take from that?"

"I'm so sorry..." Dorothy winced, bowing her head. Siem sighed from within her.

"Ugh... Just get u-"

"Don't do it, doll. That's a bad idea."

Dorothy's head lifted to the sound of Siem's voice, not inside of her head, but from the outside. It had echoed around the room, almost as though it come from the...

"Use this empty head of yours and think."

"Siem..." she said slowly like a student afraid to ask their teacher a question, "... Why does the reflection have your voice...? It's saying things that you already..."

"Because the reflection is of me, obviously." Siem explained darkly. "It's a crude recreation of my demonic body. What an insult, that such a low life should make an attempt at molding my glorious true form to control with his dirty hands. I will take great pleasure in tearing this faker apart."

"I like your other body better."

"Now, this is merely a reflection," Siem continued, ignoring her comment, "Keep in mind that it copies everything I have. When you shoved your hand into its eyeball like the grotty child you are, it had no memories to give to you, but you had memories to pass to it. As you can see, its sorting through your most recent memories. The only thing keeping it from going deeper into your more traumatic experiences is that we naturally have a resistance against mind magic, being that we specialize in it. However the more we fight it, the more powerful it will become, so we must destroy this quickly and not let it touch us again."

Dorothy felt sick upon hearing this. "Not all of these memories are mine..." she realised. If she allowed this reflection to touch her, it would see not only her memories, but the memories of her fellow Demon Hunters she had accidentally collected over the years. She couldn't hand those over to a Nightmare Demon! "They're not mine to give away!"

She looked up just in time to see it swing its massive blade down at her. Dorothy's ribbons pulled her to the side at alarming speed and she shot more out at the monster, slicing through the nape of its neck. She tried to pull herself into his blind spot while being chopped at when it threw a fireball in her direction. Her ribbons acted fast, building a cocoon around her to protect her from the blast but then it just dropped to the ground, smoking.

"Abandonment, loneliness, the fear of maturity, losing hope and control... oh, and what's this? Fear of your duty..." Dorothy heard from within her shell. She squeaked as she felt herself be picked up, thrown up and caught again. "... You are one terrified little girl, almost no reason for me to be torturing you. I have you dancing in the palm of my hand... but there is more in that head of yours. What are you not showing me?"

Dorothy remained shivering, her mind blanking out. She could feel its hand cupping around her, trapping her.

"The others.. you know what makes them cry in the night, though they are not all aware of it... Give away their suffering, it will make you feel better."

"I will never!" Dorothy's small heart pounded so hard it hurt. What could she do, what could she do, what could she do?! It was eventually going to crush her protective cocoon. It would flatten her unless she could just hear herself think!

"I don't know why you want to. You're not even friends."

Dorothy's shield exploded - the ribbons shot out, piercing through the reflection's hand. At her will, they sliced right through - all of the hundreds of lethal blades, cutting it like it was paper. The chunks of grey meat flopped onto the ground and the reflection screeched. Dorothy's ribbons wrapped around her legs to create columns for her to balance upon so she was able to look the reflection right into its one eye.

"That's what I hate about demons," she said coldly, glaring at it with dead eyes. Her ribbons slivered around her like menacing tendrils and she continued to glare as it raised its blade to strike. The corner of her mouth tugged up into a small, sadistic smile.

"You're all liars."

---

Level 1: Inner Demon Reflection -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon reaching the door and passing through and being transported within the tower somewhere unfamiliar, Barnabas was met with an all too identical and recognizable face. His demon. No less the Unwin he had come to know too well; the blonde-haired and red-eyed devil, and yet at the same time it wasn’t. Certainly surprising however the boy hadn’t expected it and admittedly, was rather impressed to some degree.

”So this is the first level of the tower, huh?” The lad questioned, even if the answer was a bit obvious.

”The others will be going through exactly the same thing, only difference being the respective demon each human faces,” Unwin explain somewhat vaguely to the child before him. ”Regardless… a knock-off is still a cheap copy no matter what form is takes, even my own.”

”Suppose,” Barnabas replied, ”Perhaps there's a way to reunite in this place, then maybe I could find Dorothy and put an end to it--”

”Never mind that,” The demon huffed rudely, eyes flaring in their typical crimson glory. ”We have to keep moving and progress, otherwise we’ll never get anywhere and our chances of finding anyone will be all but nothing; not that we need them anyway unless I want someone to brag to, right?”

Barnabas gave a nod, ”Yeah, yeah. But... how do we do that? I mean... it’s you?”

”Exactly dear boy,” The blonde male grinned and swung an arm round the boys shoulders, edging the tip of the scythe down. ”This could not be any easier; after all I am not some mere mindless creature doing senseless acts to achieve an aimless goal. Think. Why would I fight myself and my own human when I desire to be the last demon alive, hm? He will cause us no trouble because that makes sense.”

”No trouble whatsoever?”

”Not a drop,” Unwin purred in the boys ear. ”Besides… think of a faraway place and imagine that formidable thing gone, and before you know it he will be gone before your very eyes, correct? You can predict his mind and avoid his reach, and trick him into a false security. Quickly.”

”But of course,” The faker nodded. ”Eliminating oneself does not aid in ridding the world of all other demons now, does it? A mighty demon resides at the very tip of this tower and thus it would be a cruel pity for one such as I to stand in your way. Ironic, no?” The false-demon grinned with another dip of their head.

”No?”

”Yes.”

”So close your eyes and fly away from this room boy, these walls cannot hold you, but that demon high above just might.” It spoke, ”However best not to ignore demons who you view as beneath you like you have been doing thus far, for luck travels only once and bad luck travels in threes. Ta-ta for now.”

”Fine,” Barnabas remarked a tad begrudgingly, reigning in his blade by his side before the boy pushed off from one foot and enclosed the gap between himself and the fake-demon. Expectedly it lunged at him with a swift grab out of instinct, but Barnabas sidestepped its grasp effectively in one simple motion before leaping up and ducking round, and slamming a hand to the creatures back. Without wasting a moment more Barnabas closed his eyes and drowned beneath his mind, reigning in his blade by his side as all at once the scene fell into complete whiteness, a stark flash of brightness enveloping around them before the dark room from before morphed away completely…

Level 2: The Suffering Witness -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advancing to the next level, Barnabas hadn’t even batted an eyelid to the scene unfolding before his very eyes; knowing already that it was more foolery of demon magic no doubt, or at least that was what his mind told him. After all Barnabas would hardly allow himself to fall victim to some silly illusion, having grown up with them and able to create his own, why would he?

”It’s almost sad, but it’s not.” The boy commented quietly, ”To think that by having few friends would actually benefit such a predicament, however thankfully I know better than this silly demon.”

”Whatever.” Unwin sighed with a roll of his eyes, ”But we best keep moving once this little charade is over… or else someone will beat us to the punch up above.”

With a shared nod of agreement the pair stood and silently observed, until the awful moment had passed. Of course though, the boy had few to bear witness to; his friends but a handful and family even less, if none at all. Even young Dorothy was thrown in amongst the bunch, but Barnabas knew the girl was well and safe so to speak, and thus her safety was not what he fretted over but rather the demon’s audacity to use such a weak attempt playing on his mind.

”Guess this big ol’ nightmare demon will use any trick, eh?” The boy mused aloud.

Unwin gave a slow nod, ”Of course. If a demon is fated to fall then by any means they will drag everything with them, no? To cushion the blow I would imagine.”

Once it was over they were teleported to the next floor, awaiting their next test confidently.

Level 3: Shadow Slasher -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When finding themselves thrust into the third task Barnabas gave a leisurely roll of his shoulders, before shooting a look to the demon faithfully standing at his side. However, before them lay a hallway cast in shadows, quite literally as some began to take form of their own and part from the rest. ”Shadows, huh?”

Unwin offered yet another nod, ”Off we go then...”

Daisy

---

Earlier

---

”Well if it isn’t Lazy Daisy,”

She simply glared at him for that. She never liked that nickname, it poked fun at a major character flaw she was determined to overcome. Such was the nature of nicknames though. Those who try to pick their own nicknames are the only ones who call themselves by that name. Only nicknames given had any kind of lasting power, unfortunately so in many cases.

Blue assured her that her reasons for being depressed were due to her staying up late. There was a pang of guilt preceding that thought however that concerned her. She knew that Siem, her demon, would have given her endless grief if she had exhausted herself the night prior. Her excuse seemed unlikely but there was little time to suspect any sort of deception as the nightmare tower approached.

---

Present

---

"Wait, Lance!"

She watched as he rushed into the building, teleported inside by the magic protecting it. He was quickly followed by Zero, Rue and even Blue. They all had rushed in before she could even get a word of warning in. This vexed her greatly, knowing that her fellow demon hunters were throwing themselves into eminent danger with nary a single shred of caution or thought towards this assault of theirs. "Gah! Why do I even bother?" She complained aloud to no one in particular.

Going from frustration to a look of resigned grief, she turned to Bassy who was one of the few who had yet to rush in ahead of her. He was busy boasting about how he was going to be the first to take down the demon atop the tower first like usual.
"You'd best hurry then. I'll go in and see if I can't regroup them before they get hurt."

In less time than it took to blink her sword, the Thorn of Anguish, simply appeared in her left hand like as though it was always there. She gestured with the point of the blade for him to enter ahead of her. After he went in she followed soon after, the last one to enter the nightmare tower. If she was strictly honest with herself she sort of hoped that he would live up to his boasts and kill the demon at the top of the tower himself so she didn't have to. She never looked forward to fighting demons but she knew it was necessary for her to kill them. She had to, regardless of how much better her comrades were at it.

---

Level One: Inner Demon Reflection

---

Just as she teleported in the first sight to greet her was pitch black darkness. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the rapid change in lighting but there was little to see. The room was empty as far as she could tell.

Well, this is certainly a way to start a hunt. I can't see a thing. She was legitimately confused as to what was going on. It wasn't as though the room's special trap was announced alongside the level it was on or anything. That would be extremely impractical, warning hunters of the challenges they face.

"I know. I turned off the lights ahead of your arrival."

A shudder rolled up her spine. The voice that spoke inside her head sounded just like Connor.


Did you just say that, Connor? She asked Connor, hoping to confirm whether or not it was him that spoke.

"No. There's another in this room. Given the environment and his telepathy I can only guess the other one in this room is-"

"-Me, Connor. The same demon in almost every way possible."

"Yet not the same or else I'd just be talking to myself."

Suddenly a single light came on just above her head, Illuminating her and a circle of the floor beneath her but little else. Daisy looked around hurriedly, trying to find the Connor copy but to no avail. There was no use trying to see the invisible.


"I understand if you are frightened. This aura does that to you."

She listened for even the slightest sound of movement in the hopes that she could get a general idea of where he lurked. She couldn't hear a thing.

"You sound worried." Connor commented to his copy.

"I am concerned. Lower your weapon so we may talk, Daisy."

"Why should I do that?" She did not trust his intent, her fear prickling the skin.

"Because your only alternative is to stand there until I drain the will to raise your sword out of you."

He was right. She hated the fact but she couldn't deny that if this entity was identical to Connor then he too had the ability to suck the determination from every living being in the area. Reluctantly she lowered her sword, glancing around the room for a figure to look at. Out from the darkness a silhouette emerged. With her uncanny ability to see relatively well in the dark she was able to see the copy of Connor's form appear before it stepped forward. He was just close enough that she could see his face. His eyes looked right through her with his thousand-yard stare.

"I'll be quite honest with you. I don't want to fight."

She wore a look of confusion. Her expectations were subverted by this development. "Well... What do you want then?"

He sighed, his eyes disappearing under his cap as he looked to the ground. "I don't want to die."


She was actually taken aback by this. First floor trial set before her was to confront her demon's mirror self, a defense mechanism set by a nightmare demon. Never did she expect something quite so... sincere.

"I know I'm not real. I may be just a hollow duplicate of the original but unlike most demons I am smart enough to know I can't win. If I lose, I die. If I win, I disappear forever."

He let his words sink in. She felt numerous emotions, many of them conflicting. There was just too much inner turmoil for her to put into words. He continued.

"Ever since I first turned into this... demon that now lives within you I have poured my after-life's efforts into punishing those who would let others suffer and die in exchange for convenience."

"As a copy you remember everything I remember, including my time in Daisy." The original Connor chimed in during one of the copy's pauses.


"Yes. That is why when I saw you I realized that I was apart from you. I knew I couldn't be apart since we are fused. Then I heard him. Me, but not my mind. The only explanation is that I was nothing more than a false copy given the face, mind and name of Connor."

"Connor never got this far by giving into despair, even when the odds seem stacked against him. I am not Connor.

The copy finally stepped into the light where she could finally see him in full gritty detail. It was only now that she could see he was crying.

"The only hope I have is that the real Connor may continue on and see vengeance brought upon the one who did this to me."


The Connor copy suddenly stepped in, grabbing Daisy's sweat shirt by the collar and pulling her in so her face and his were only a hairs width apart. His eyes stared into hers with an intensity that marked her from that moment forward. The jet black pools in his eyes grabbed her attention to the point where it didn't even cross her mind to try using her sword.

"Promise me."

...

"Promise me you will end it's life."

Her words felt like boulders weighing down the back of her throat. Speaking was a test of might for her right then.

"I promise."

As though in a trance she hadn't even noticed her hand had driven the sword into the copy's chest, piercing his heart. In truth Connor knew well enough to put the imitation out of it's misery since he knew he wouldn't have it any other way. Connor had guided her hand without her notice until the deed was done. The copy simply slumped down with a wide, rot-toothed grin plastered on his face. Daisy in her shock reached down, catching the copy as though it were Connor himself before it hit the ground. She had never known that magical duplicates could be capable of such depth in thought until he was already gone. As his cap fell and touched the ground so too was she.

---

Level Two: The Suffering Witness

---

As she appeared in the second level she felt like she was just a passenger inside her own head. To her she was sitting inside looking out through her own eyes like windows, the body moving about on it's own. This was not true. She was still mostly in control of her body whether she felt like it was or not.

It wasn't the death of the copy or it's despair that had brought her to such a motor disconnect. It was a reaction to the realization that as a young girl she has watched so many people die, even people she had loved as family, that she was starting to grow numb from it all. All this despair, all this misery, it was like hypothermia of the soul.

When she saw all her fellow demon hunters hanging from chains by their wrists slowly being lowered into lava her automatic reaction was to try and approach them. Before she could advance however her chest went numb. A coldness spread across the front of her torso, the result of Connor issuing momentary control to prevent her from going forth.


"You know it's an illusion right?"

Yes.

She was tired of standing so she sat down, crossing her legs.

"I can only assume the purpose of this level is to force you to witness something horrific and tragic. As they say the only way in is through so don't close your eyes and ignore this."

She gave a tired sigh, staring glumly as her friends started to blister over the rising heat of the lava.

[i]"You'd normally contest me on this, considering the possibility that this might really be happening and arguing with me about going to help or not."

It's an illusion.

She had little to no inflection in her voice, a drab monotone that issued no excitement, good or bad.

"I know, I told you that.

She didn't have a reply for him. The silence between him and herself was almost louder than Zero's screams as he was burned alive. Daisy was already at her max capacity for how sad she could be, there was no hope for this level to even so much as make her wince. She was so far away that their voices couldn't reach her even though she could hear them loud and clear. Even as poor Blue dipped into the molten death pot Daisy couldn't even feel so much as even a slight twinge at the inhumanity of it all.

---

Level Three: Shadow Slasher

---

She was still sitting as she was teleported to this floor. She had barely moved a muscle as she stared at the end of a long, shadowy corridor.

Can I close my eyes now?

"Sure."

She closed her eyes. It was now she could finally confront her thoughts as they were no longer being assaulted by these games.

Connor... What is this feeling?

"It's called a callous. It builds whenever you get hurt."

What happens if a callous builds too much?

"... You won't get hurt anymore."


Like that she was back in the now. She rose to her feet with her blade in her hand and her brow knit. She looked ahead, ever still determined to see her way to the end of the tower.

What do you think this challenge is? She asked Connor, her mind looking past everything she had just experienced and focusing on the facts.

"Just take a step and watch."

She stepped forward and suddenly the shadows started to shudder, rising up in vaguely humanoid forms and turning towards her. Without any further warning she vanished from sight leaving the shadows sans a target to cut. They searched ahead of them but there was nothing to be felt. She was above them, floating gently past near the roof. They listened hard for even the slightest sound to react to. Sounds like her breathing.

In a fast surge the shadows stabbed upwards, all but just narrowly missing her. Several shadowy blades hovered much too close to her torso for her to navigate around for risk of touching one and alerting the shadow. She held her breath, staying quiet as possible. Timed seemed to crawl as she waited but before she started to turn blue the shadows lowered their weapons, now genuinely lost as to where she might be. Taking care to hold her breath just that little bit longer she floated on over to the door and past to the next level.

Hers might not of been the hardest challenges out of every iteration but they weren't going to let Daisy kill a demon cleanly.

---

Level 3: Shadow Slasher -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

”Dammit!” Angered words spilling from his lips in one furious breath, hands slamming hard and gripping against the cold floor as if for dear life, Barnabas kicked with determination and spun his lower half skyward; turning sharply on one hand and heels colliding; a snappy ’click’ echoing through the air as both feet came flying down in the opposite direction and crashed hard onto the back of the shadows skull. Crushing the shadowy substance into nothing as it faded away beneath his foot and then quickly reforming further down the hall, rather annoyingly. ”For Pete’s sake just die already!”

”They won’t die so easily, at least not permanently.” Unwin huffed after, practically snapping at the boy’s heels as the demon came up from behind, leaping high and avoiding the shadowy creatures at every grasp. ”All you can do is hit and run; we are on a time-limit after all, sort of. So just keep running.”

”Fine then!” Wiping the sweat from his brow the boy turned on his heel with a prompt twist, ”Wasn’t like I was set on killing ‘em all anyway.” Though not quite the fastest, he wasn’t the slowest either and Barnabas sped quickly down the hallway, his distance from the shadows growing only shorter, and shorter, with every hurried step. ”Hng--” A dark hand clawing out to nab him suddenly, Barnabas jerked back somewhat abruptly, spinning on the ball of his foot as he swung round the other boot to collide with the shadow; the tip of the blade swinging round in rhythm to his frantic pace, before cutting upward and slicing the creature as it dispersed before his gaze. ”A-Ha!” Surroundings becoming a jumbled blur around him, the boy pushed off down the remaining bit of hall; blade twirling in hand and striking any shadow within reach, with shaky and stumbling footfalls.

”Aren’t you reading their movements?” Unwin questioned just then, ”You seem a little sloppy and unbalanced.”

”Duh! Obviously I am,” the lad breathed heavily, ”The problem is there’s more than one unless you hadn’t noticed? Geez.”

The demon raised a brow, ”Peh, kids. Quick to wage war and yet you can’t even handle a single battle on your own.”

When eventually reaching the other end Barnabas came to a crashing halt, heaving a heavy breath and bumping the bridge of his nose against the door, before quickly hurrying on through it with Unwin following. ”Let's just keep moving, before they catch up with us!”

Level 4: Memory Surge ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gravity was heavier on this floor compared to the others that had come before, the pressure alone causing the boy to limp over and sink into the ground beneath him, almost helplessly so. It angered him more than what words could care to describe, his hands weakly clenching into shivering fists and knees buckling, offering only a sideways gaze to the demon. ”W-What is this… feeling?”

”Gravity, emotion. Whatever cares to burden you will only succeed in dragging you down if you cannot fight it,” Unwin answered straightly, ”Whatever sings in your head should be silenced; ignore it at all costs and feign deafness if you must… just don’t fall even further down the pit of sorrow, got it?”

Barnabas nodded, though it was clear by his expression that the child still didn’t understand. Unwin would never lie and he knew that, unlike the boy himself, yet at times the demon didn’t make sense. Not for a little boy to comprehend, at least. ”B-But--” his words cut short, Barnabas felt himself hunching over closer to the floor, the gravity around him becoming even more bothersome and heavy, if that was even possible… and then he heard it.

”Beau?” A strange yet oddly familiar voice called from within his head, causing a painful twang in the boy’s chest. ”Isn’t that a girl’s name?”

”N-No,” Barnabas stammered, rather weakly. ”I-It’s not--”

”Short for Beauregard… Beauregard Wolfhart?” It continued, ”The poor little rich kid who was given away by his parents… the one who I’ve heard crying at night sometimes; who wets the bed and wakes up in fright, wondering what’s going on. No wonder your parents gave you away if this is the end result…”

Fingers embedded in the mess of grey hair, Barnabas felt his forehead hitting hard against the floor beneath him, clashing painfully against it. ”I-It’s not true…!”

Before the pair manifested the form of the fake demon, the would-be Unwin that they had encountered earlier, only now he was speaking ill and causing pain; actual pain. It’s voice was near on identical to that of the real Unwin, which only succeeded in making those words sound even more nippier, and more truer in tone. Barnabas could almost feel himself believing it, almost.

”Barny-bus, was that not how you use to pronounce it? Barnabas. A big name for a big boy, but who were you kidding? Bassy. You claim to not care about the man and woman who abandoned you and yet, deep down and underneath, you secretly want them back in your life, don’t you? What was is, “Mummy, Daddy, please come back?” Or was it, “I promise to be a good boy, the very best little boy that you could ever want?” Peh.”

”Make it shuddup,” the boy pleaded firmly, ”Do something Unwin, do someth--”

The fake gave a dark chuckle, ”Does the truth hurt, little boy?”

The room felt colder, the air heavier and confined. Barnabas opened his eyes and shot a look to the copy; pale green orbs met with force against the crimson eyes that stared back, somewhat challengingly. It was hard to tell who the real and fake demon was, and the faint line between reality and fiction almost nonexistent. Then again that was always the case with the boy, who spent many a year in some illusion or another, but thankfully hadn’t found himself trapped there just yet.

”If the truth hurts then for sure it is no lie; but do not let what is real wound you in a world that is clearly a lie in itself,” the real Unwin piped up, offering out a hand to the child on the floor. ”Where we find ourselves currently, in this tower, it is but a game and we are the pawns to play it out. The nightmare demon who sits above is only messing with you, toying with you; do not let it succeed or we both are doomed from this point on, got it?”

Barnabas gave only a nod, ”I-I think so…”

”Do not think, just do. That is what you usually do, right? This place is badly affecting you the longer we remain here, so take my hand and let’s keeping moving.” Nodding only once more the boy gladly snatched the offered hand before him, and with some assistance, was able to spring back onto his feet with Unwin at his side. ”Come on then.” As both stepped towards the phoney demon Barnabas all too readily brought forth his scythe as the weapon danced along his fingers; and with only one swing of the blade forcefully dragged the tip through and down the fake, retracting it within a moment, as the copy burst into nothing and remained no more.

”Let’s just get out of here, ok?”

With the false demon gone the boys carried on, and headed for the next floor. ”As you wish, Bassy.”

Level 5: Maze of Embarrassment ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheeks rosy and crimson, a vibrant blush erupting over his features. Barnabas could feel the hairs on his neck standing up.

”Your face almost matches my eyes, you know that? So lovely and red--”

”Shuddup.” The boy retorted, furrowing his brow. ”Tell me already how we beat this thing, so that I may retrieve my clothes back in the quickest way possible!”

”Temper, temper. What is the issue anyway? You are a fine looking human, a child no less; it isn’t like you have much to hide anyway.” The demon quipped and turned his gaze; no doubt on the receiving end of a nasty glare from the boy, before curiously eyeing up the would-be “sentinels” as they came hurrying out the neighbouring buildings. ”But… from what I can deduce we have to escape this maze and not die in the process. Simple enough, no?”

”That’s all?” The boy gritted his teeth, ”Well which way, which way then?! Tell me already Unwin--”

The demon promptly raised a hand and pointed in a single direction, ”That a-way.”

”A-HA! This’ll be a piece of cake! Mazes aren’t nothin’ when you can cheat your way through it; after all the sooner this is over the sooner my dignity can be intact again, so let’s go already!” With the exit located within the distance, the rest was practically a walk in the park, almost literally, as the child knew the best-est way to conquer a maze. Barnabas didn’t think to linger as the boy was quick to act, ”I’ll just use my illusions and breeze through this thing, easy!”

Running over to one of the close by buildings and setting a hand to the brick wall, Barnabas used his magic to exploit the matter before him and bend it to his will; the solid brick liquidizing like it was nothing and the whole structure parting from the middle outward, reshaping and forming, and creating a large hole-like space for them to walk through.

”Oi! Can you not just ‘illusion’ yourself some clothes? You would think so, right?” Unwin piped up from behind, the thought only just hitting him.

”Hey… that’s actually a good idea--” Words falling short, a sudden bullet whistled past the boys skull and pinged off a nearby window ledge. ”N-Nevermind let’s just keeping going! It’s a bit l-late now anyway—dammit!” With that in mind the pair set off for the exit, quite urgently, as the buildings before them parted and reshaped to the child’s desire, and forming an alternative route as they passed each solid wall that stood in their way. ”Onward and upward, ha-ha! Bring on the next task and we’ll see who’s the top demon hunter!”

Barnabas snapped with just a little bit of pride; the boy and demon escaping the fifth level altogether and advancing on to the next.

---

Level 6: The Room of the Fallen / The Room of The Fate -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Their eventual fate wasn’t a pretty sight or a desirable one; but then again was anything within this tower desiring? Barnabas shook his head at the thought, partly to reassure himself while trying to feign ignorance to what stood before him. ”So that’s it, eh? My fate? That thing is what I’ll become,” he wondered, not entirely believing it however not necessarily turning a blind eye to it either. ”Ironic perhaps, but ok.”

”You’re fine with it?” Unwin questioned, ”No whining, crying or anything? Just ok?”

”What the hell do you want from me? Besides, when did a hero ever not have a tragic fate? It’s almost an honour and naturally so,” the boy retorted with a roll of his shoulders. ”Anyway I won’t have a family to mourn over me so what difference does it make? I never chose to be a Demon Hunter and quite fittingly, I won’t get to decide how it ends, no matter how ugly and terrible. So yeah, just ok.”

The demon simply sighed, ”Ok.”

Twirling his scythe over his shoulder and forcing a grin, Barnabas turned away from the demonic form and gazed to his demon, as if it were only the pair of them there. ”I accept my fate, I already did many years ago, so no phony illusion is going to get me to just turn and run now,” he confidently spoke. ”Let’s just keep moving, okie-dokie?”

Level 7: Swarm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

”Eww,” Barnabas huffed. ”Rats, seriously? They’re like the lowest of the low and damn disgusting. Only poor people deal with rats…”

Unwin rolled his eyes, ”Don’t be such a girl, Bassy. You can cut them up into tiny pieces; go wild!”

”True that,” the boy nodded in agreement, giving a swing of his arm as he brought round the blades tip and pointed it towards the approaching rodents. ”I wonder if they bleed?” As he swung the blade round and cut one of the little things in half, the darn rat reformed like it was nothing and annoyingly squeaked at the boy.

”Just keep swinging and slicing, swing and slice, swing and slice,” the demon advised, ”You can move faster than they regenerate, so just clear a path and push on already. After all, we are not losing because of some poor pest control, are we?”

”No we’re not, hmph.” Gripping firm and speeding off, Barnabas was determined to slice his way through the waves of rodents, and cut them up into bits and proceed to the next level with haste…

Level 8 : Dodgeball ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rubber orbs whistled past his skull upon emerging into the next floor, catching the boy off guard slightly. ”T-That almost hit me?!”

”I think that is the point,” Unwin mused with a grin, ”Better watch out; if you get hit by one of those you may very well get knocked out, or possibly worse. Magical abilities are useless here, but passive abilities still work. You should be perfectly suited for this, right?”

Barnabas frowned ever so slightly, staggering backwards and sideways to avoid impact. ”Only foolish little kids play this game and I am clearly not a dumb little boy,” he remarked, quickly sidestepping out of the balls path. ”But yeah, not a thing on this Earth could hit me with one of those!” Knowing all too well, it was easy for him to dodge the balls, what with his prompt and fluid moves, Barnabas was rather fortunate to skip around any possible threat…

Level 9 : Feared Future Funhouse ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Barnabas arrived in an area filled with mirrors, almost endlessly, depicting odd reflections that the boy couldn’t quite understand; or rather he didn’t want to comprehend what was being shown to him. In one particular frame he was older, smartly dress and yet… didn’t quite hold the same ‘Bassy-ness’ to him. Almost as if he was someone different, someone strange; an adult.

”I never want to grow up,” Barnabas declared, clenching his fists. ”Not in this world anyway…”

---

Level 9 : Feared Future Funhouse -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clattering filled the air and deafened the ears, sweeping over the room and consuming every inch.

”Smash them all and shatter every piece,” Barnabas darkly remarked with a cold tone, eyes somberly musing from one mirror and to the next. Spinning the hilt of the weapon round and thrusting it hard into the glass he added, ”If I break ‘em all they can’t show me anything, right?”

”But you can’t surely destroy every mirror, they are too many and you are too few,” Unwin calmly replied as they walked, tiptoeing carefully over broken shards of glass that lay decorating the floor under them. ”Besides, is it not bad luck to break mirrors?”

Barnabas gave an amused shrug. ”You know what they say Unwin; if we didn’t have bad luck then we’d have no luck, so why would it bother me to have more? They’re just stupid mirrors anyway… the reflections aren’t even pretty enough to scare me.” Turning on his heel and carrying on down the seeming path, from the corner of his eye Barnabas cocked his head and looked to one mirror that lay far to the side; a large mirror at that with glass as clear as the air he breathed in, somewhat uncomfortably so. ”Eh?” From within the fragile frame depicted a man and woman with lavish clothes, standing loyally arm in arm with a grand home lying behind them; perfection stretched across from every corner of the mirror. ”Oh please,” it was a lovely scene admittedly, too lovely in fact. Something that could have been but wasn’t; a future that wasn’t quite Bassy’s to claim as his own, not now and maybe never at all. ”They couldn’t look more fake if they tried,” he scoffed and looked away, another mirror swiftly landing before his eyes and revealing a more demonic Barnabas. A crueler and more mindless boy with wide eyes and a menacing grin. ”It doesn’t even bother me...”

Giving only a shrug the lad carried on and headed for the exit, smashing a couple more mirrors as he did and continued to the next level.

Level 10: In The Way ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

”I don’t care if it’s real or not; I’m not wasting my time saving some brat! Hell, if they’re here already then the little dork is done-for anyway.” Barnabas snapped with a slight glare, willing to turn away from the demon as it was ready to devour the small child who coward helplessly before him. An illusion perhaps or maybe not, Barnabas wasn’t here to save lives; he was here to beat a demon as always, so what did it matter? He didn’t know them, so why should he care? They weren’t his responsibility. ”Any--”

”I’m not a fan either but for all we know this is the test and if we lose then we fail,” the demon remarked with a sulk. ”Imagine if it were the little girl, Dorothy.”

Barnabas rolled his head back and slumped forward slightly, not really feeling in the mood to bicker such things with the demon next to him. ”Trust you to say the right thing,” he sighed before shooting a knowing look. ”But whatever. Suppose I just need to get this over with?” Despite the grin he bore and the confidence he flaunted, even Barnabas couldn’t deny that the aura was becoming heavier the longer he remained in the tower; the fear feeling just that little bit more believable and real. It was unsettling to a degree but he refused to show it, and simply push the thought from his mind. He needed to focus and move on, that was all.

”But don’t forget,” Unwin piped up. ”You’re still a child as well, Bassy.”

Grumbling something or another under his breath, Barnabas rushed over to the demon, twisting carefully and avoiding an oncoming arm swipe; the boy quickly spun round and swung his scythe, coating the blade in a thick layer of magic, which he then used to cut the creature in two; dicing open its gut and slicing it clean open. ”I’m not wasting time here; even if I don’t kill the thing it won’t cause any more harm at least.” Thrusting the blade through the demon and yanking it back, the monster dropped to its knees and collapsed to the ground as a strange substance oozed from the creature.

The wound wide and deep, the demon was just a crippled stump now. Not even looking to the stunned child who remained sat on the spot, Barnabas only gave a quick motion to his demon, and a moment later they quickly continued to the next level.

Level 11 : Your Sin’s Curse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For once upon arriving on a floor Barnabas was not met with some dastardly demon, or some trap set on nabbing him in this tower forever; quite the opposite actually, a stark contrast in every sense from what he had grown use to until reaching this point. It was strange yet accepted, an odd feeling tempting the boy.

Many bodies flooded the crowded room; men and woman, young couples from what anyone could guess, who were all seemingly in search of one thing and one thing only; Barnabas. As the boy carefully made his way through the room and weaved past the taller figures, receiving a pat on the head and comforting brush of the shoulder as he did; it wasn’t until reaching the other side that Barnabas noticed a group of children, which consisted the other demon hunters around his age, who were kept in a segregated little patch in the corner.

They were nobodies. Branded as unwanted and useless, and cast aside by the hand of the adults…

All except Barnabas; he was free.

Photographs were stuck across all four walls, pictures of Barnabas everywhere and barley an inch of bare wall seen to the eye. A few moments later and a roar of cheering ripped through the room, howls of laughter and snorts following. ”Ha-ha! They’re all losers except me! Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Barnabas laughed hard, ”Nobody wants the foolish little wimpy kids; they’re utter losers and deserve everything they get, I mean come on, only the greatest demon hunters are entitled to the best of things!” He could have almost died there and then, possibly. He could have a mother and father, more if he wanted, after all he deserved the best parents, obviously. There were so many to chose from and they all wanted him, and only him. ”What is all this anyway? A party in my honour? Hell, it’s about time!”

”Wake up Bassy, it’s not real.” Unwin spoke, hands gripped and yanking the boy back a step. ”Get your head out the clouds and just look; it’s all fake and nobody wants you, it’s just your imagination, mostly. The only thing you should focus on is the exit over there. Now go.”

”B-But--” words failing, Barnabas looked around the room at that moment and realized the demon was right. It was fake. He had been taken for a fool, rather easily, and fallen hard for nothing, an illusion; a false reality that he wanted perhaps a little too much, and couldn’t have. One by one the bodies faded rapidly, the area gradually being swept in darkness and leaving only a door in its wake…

”It really wasn’t real, was it?” The boy asked, knowing the answer already.

Unwin shook his head, ”No, just a false dream. But maybe… one day--”

”Don’t give me some lame pep talk. If it hasn’t happened by now it never will,” the lad huffed and began walking to the door, stomping along the way. ”Let’s go.”

When all was done they continued to the next level, awaiting what would come next.

That was not much time, three minutes. But they had to make do. That was when Zero saw it. "The weakspot! Its the demon's eyes, with a soft boundary of his face!"

"Alright then, hey Zero, why not try an upgraded version of our Infinity Cannon?" Danny suggested. Zero agreed, and the two linked hands and streteched out their arms in front of them, like a cannon. Suddenly, all the offensive magical abilities they had charged up into a cannon shot, making it a flaming electrically charged sonic nova cannon, with various daggers inside spinning around ready to pierce the guy's face, and the two immediately moved at hyper-speed right to the guy's face, and fired. This resulted in a critical charged up shot hitting the guy right in the face. The only issue is that he hardened his aura like armor, so it absorbed some of the blow. Still, it clearly hurt him, just not enough as it should.

But the daggers were still there, which meant a lot of metal objects. Danny took this opportunity to launch a lightning attack that penetrated his defenses, and got a direct hit. Zero then used a flaming hurricane kick to do some serious damage. However, this just got the demon even more pissed. The demon began projecting his voice throughout the whole tower, so everyone could hear.

"Alright, so you think you shrimps can beat me? Little Wraithful Zero, so angry all the time yet holds it inside because he has major family issues....and major insecurity issues. Danny, so greedy for everything....even people's attentions. Lost your parents at a young age, right? So you became so greedy for the attention of others without their attention to comfort you. Little lost Rue, so lustful to feel anything, even pain, maybe not because your that insane....but because you know no one truly loves you. You don't feel love because no one gives you any, so you lust for other feelings to fill that void. Oh, Lance. We all know that no matter how tough your demon trains you, your passion will always be food. You will let down your friends, just for a frozen TV dinner. So useless....so gluttonous. That is your sin, gluttony. Lazy Daisy. Just another let down, a piece of garbage who would rather sleep all day if she had a choice then help her friends. Hell, maybe one day she will decide to stop fighting in the middle of a battle because of her Sloth Sin, and leave her friends to die. And then, there is Dorothy...."

The Nightmare Demon Paused, as he remembered what Dorothy did to the last things that just pissed her off. He was scared that she might have more physical strength then all the other Demon Hunters after that, and if he pissed her off....with Zero and Danny's attacks, she might be able to tear him apart with her bare hands next. "...well, she is just really envious of other people, because her sin is Envy and she is useless. Moving on......oh yes, Barnabas. Whoever named you must really hate you. But then there is your nickname, Bassy. Kinda sounds like Sissy. You do realize Lazy Daisy beat you to the top right? Hell, Dorothy is even ahead of you by a few steps I think. So prideful, yet so....worthless. All that Pride, because that is your sin, clouding the truth: You are the weakest Demon Hunter, just so insecure you do not even realize it. And now tell me, all of you Demon Hunters. Don't you find it strange each one of you has a Sin tied to them? Wraith, Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Pride. Are you sure you can trust your mission? Are you sure you can trust the Vanguard? Are you sure you can trust this....Dr. Eisenhorn is it? Seems like he has a lot to answer for....after all, the power of the Sin, if used incorrectly, could consume you entirely....why do you think he would neglect to warn you about this?"

Zero and Danny had a little under two minutes. They had been attacking the demon the whole time through his speech, but he was still up. "Oh, and as for you two....allow me to show you just another power of this Nightmare Tower! Countless Distractions!"

Suddenly, dozens of beautiful, naked girls showed up all squealing and reaching towards the two of them. Zero and Danny flinched a little, before Anna hit the both of them in the back of the head, knocking them out of the way of the Nightmare Demon's Darkness Bolt and getting them back into the game. "Are you kidding me! You two fell for that trick!?"

The illusion subsided, as the Nightmare Demon launched another attack at them. He had moved back to offensive. Zero and Danny did not have time for that, so Zero summoned his new weapons, the Laser Halos, and slashed through the attack, allowing them both to get off direct surprise attacks before he could become defensive and scored some major damage. Still, the bastard demon was still alive, and they reckoned that if the demon was not defeated by the time their Soul Harmonization Wore off in one minute ten seconds, his increased Soul Siphon would kill everyone in this tower before they could stop him.

"Wirlwind Barrage!" Zero shouted, unleashing a brutal attack to knock the Demon off its feat. THat was when Danny appeared behind him.

"Black Lotus Style! Ultimate Explosive Chain Barrage!" Danny attacked with full power, trapping the demon in chains again as several Scythes dug into the demon and caused explosions. Then all the chains exploded, significantly hurting the demon and burning its whole body. Razakar got up, and growled, except they were both there, and delivered roundhouse kicks right into its face. His aura shield was still up though, and getting in their way. They needed a way past it....little did they know someone else already figured out how.

"Darkness Barrage! 132 Terror Bolts!"

Zero had to put up a barrier, but even then the Nightmare Demon broke through so they had to dodge about half of them. Danny then summoned his Alternate Weapon, the Hyper-Sword, and tried to cut right through the protective aura. He managed to break through, and then the venom he had secretly placed on the blade took its toll, starting to weaken the magical power of the Nightmare Demon. But one issue remained. They only had thirty seconds left, and despite his weakening state, he was not weakening fast enough. Still, just one final shot might be the only thing they needed. Zero and Danny intialized another Infinity Cannon Location, and poured every ounce of magical power they could into charging it. Still, the Nightmare Demon poured every ounce of his magical power into his Aura Shield. "Say goodbye, pipsqueaks. Once your attack fails to kill me, I will crush you!"

Suddenly, that was when Daisy came out of nowhere, shocking everyone in the room, and stabbing the Nightmare Demon's aura shield in the one place that would result in it breaking and shattering, leaving him fully exposed. "Goodbye, Razakar".

"Goodbye, Razakar!" Zero, Anna, Danny, and Barry all shouted. "And good riddance!" And with five seconds left on the clock, they fired right into Razakar's eyes.

Razakar exploded and disintegrated, and suddenly the entire Nightmare Tower began to fade away. All of the Demon Hunters found themselves teleported into the building, the original building, lobby as the Nightmare Tower faded away and came crashing down. The air was still rich with magical energy though, which Anna knew was a good thing. It meant the Soul Siphon had still been draining people, which meant they were all still alive. They had succeeded. The Nightmare Tower....had been cleared. And better yet, Zero and Danny used the infinity cannon to do it, so they wouldn't argue about who killed the Nightmare Demon first.

Then Anna remembered, they just used a lot of magical energy, and after the boost they got, they would be extremely tired. And sure enough, when she looked, Zero and Danny had both collapsed on the floor, gasping. Anna helped pick the two of them up, and supported them with herself before looking at the others. Including Dorothy. While everyone had been focused on the Nightmare Demon, she had been focused on the monitors. And she had seen Dorothy break all those things with her bare hands. She might not be the most powerful Demon Hunter, but after what I saw....she might have the most physical strength out of them all...

"Woah. Zero, Danny, your arms!" Anna said shocked, when she confirmed what she saw before. Where nothing had been before, on Zero's right arm was a tattoo of the Dragon, and then on Danny's right arm but in a slightly different place, was a tattoo of a fox. "Hold on. Dragon of Wraith, Fox of Greed. This is related to what the Nightmare Demon said....about all of us having a Sin we represent....I wonder, you think that what he said before about Dr. Eisenhorn....you think he wasn't just BSing us?"

Then something occured to her. Anna put her hand on the floor, and attempted to harness the magical energy left in the air and any remaining teleportation Runes, and focused them into one, major Teleporation runes. She also focused some of it into Zero and Danny so they did not pass out, and some into Dorothy to heal her. "I figure we cant just leave all this around for another Demon to take advantage of. Teleporation Circle Activate! Zero's Apartment Building!"

Within that moment, they were all instantly teleported across town, into the hallway outside of Zero's apartment. Anna helped both Zero and Danny up again, and looked back at the others. "I know normally we would throw a party or something, but Zero and Danny both need to get some rest after taking down that Nightmare Demon and frankly, I think a few others need to as well. So how about tomorrow, after school when everyone is rested up, we go and throw a party then? Cause I think we should all be done for tonight..." she said as she looked towards Zero and Danny. Just rest up you two, you earned it....and you will need it when we confront Dr. Eisenhorn tomorrow....

Dorothy watched Barnabas cautiously as his eyes shut, not moving until his breathing had evened. Quietly, she packed up her empty sandwich container and threw her bag over her shoulders. Without a glance back she ran onto the street, not stopping once to catch her breath until her legs gave way. She collapsed against a lamp post, closing her eyes and remembering what the Nightmare Demon had said.

She was Envy.

Bassy was Pride.

Her eyes reopened slowly. The demon had hesitated to insult her. What was he hesitant for?

"Am I... scary?" Dorothy raised her hands above her head. Something was wrong with her. It was almost as if the same pressure from level four was pressing against her chest. "... Siem... I don't feel too good..."

"Let's go for a walk." Siem suddenly replied from beside her. She looked up in a daze as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her away from the lamp. For some reason, he walked slow enough for her to keep up with ease. "How do you feel bad?"

It took her a while to answer that. She felt bad in many ways. "... It's... the tower... Bassy -"

"The tower was all fake. Don't even think about what happened in there."

Dorothy glowered. She really wanted to get some sympathy from him, or anything other than neglect. "Then it's the memories. There's something wrong with them."

"How so?"

"When I think about them, I don't just see them, I can..."

"Feel them?" Dorothy looked up in surprise at Siem's interruption. He wouldn't look at her so it was impossible to tell what he was feeling, which was somewhat relieving. She focused on his hand wrapped around her wrist. This was all very confusing for her. She simply nodded.

"It's like I can feel what the person who had the memory felt at the time in happened, if that makes any sense."

"It makes complete sense. You're getting stronger. You take their emotional memories as well as their visual."

"But it's not just that!" She blurted, yanking her hand away from Siem's impatient grip "I saw the memory of someone losing a finger on machinery and - AH!" The small girl screamed and knelt over, cradling her hand. The few people on the path turned to look at her, some backing further away and muttering to themselves. She felt their uneasiness infect her. "Ow...! See? Whenever I think about it, I can -"

"Physical memory." Siem dismissed and pulled her back up to her feet. They continued walking side by side, Dorothy eyeing his free hand hopefully.

"... Why... why did I have to have this? Nobody else-"

"What can I say? You have to pay the toll."

"The toll for what?" Dorothy asked quietly, "The others are more powerful than me. Danny and Zero defeated the demon without me." Something struck her hard and she winced at the thought, "... There was no reason for me to go into that tower at all, was there, Siem?" Siem did not answer as they walked to the lookout over the city. "Fine. ... It sounds silly, Siem, but I just think sometimes that if I cry, all of these... things... in my head, they can go away."

"But you cannot cry." Siem replied harshly. "I have seen you attempt to get your way, but you know you cannot. You never have."

"But there has to be a way!" She shouted in a sudden burst of emotion. She stopped walking and stared at her dirty shoes, biting her lip. "... The... the voices said that the bad feelings go somewhere... I want them to go! There is a way for them to go, isn't there?!" Siem would not reply or even turn to look at her. "... You know something, don't you?"

"Do you want to be happy that badly?"

"I..." Dorothy faltered. The image of the joyous woman with red eyes flashed in her mind. Dorothy staggered towards the edge of the bride, gripping it and looking over the edge.

Something was wrong with her.

Something was rising.

"I don't want to fight, but I want to kill them!" She choked, looking over the edge. "But I don't want to see bad things anymore. Not their memories. Not their feelings."

"Then free yourself."

The view suddenly appeared more beautiful than anything Dorothy had ever seen. The other Demon Hunters were so strong and she suffered so much... for what? For every person she saved, they saved ten more. After a fight, she could be out of action for weeks due to an injury. She hindered them. They all looked after her. They looked after her but they couldn't save her. What she needed saving from was inside her head.

Something they couldn't reach.

They put it there.

Now all they were waiting for her to grow up... grow up into her.

She existed to kill demons and there was one she needed to put down before





















Dorothy's head suddenly snapped back and her jaw dropped open. A sickly blackish purple was expelled from her mouth and dispersed into the air in a gas, even being drawn from her nose and ears. Her wide eyes slowly defogged and sparkled with life for a brief moment before they rolled up and she fell down in a crumpled heap.

"... If you can." Siem finished.

He knelt over Dorothy's motionless body and sighed as he glanced around at the slowly dying plant life that surrounded them. "You've been opening Pandora's Box more and more frequently, doll..." He picked her up and rested her against his back in a piggy-back. She gripped the back of his coat in her sleep, murmuring something barely audible about wanting a story then laughing softly. Siem smirked and began to walk home. "You're stronger than you look, doll. So strong, they all have the right to find you scary. The only thing you need protection from is yourself..."


.

.

.


Dorothy woke up neatly tucked away in her bed. She turned her head to look at her alarm.

11:48

"Shivers!" She sat up suddenly and shoved the covers off her, "It's a school day! Granny's going to kill me!"

"Robin let you sleep in." Siem said from the bottom of her bed. Dorothy glanced over to see him looking tired and grumpy. "She lets you slack, if you ask me."

"Oh. Good morning, Siem." Dorothy greeted, surprised to see him. It was unusual for her to ever wake up with him in his physical form. She smiled. It must have been a special occasion. "What are you doing outside?"

"Just checking," he muttered as she began to change, turning to face the other direction. "How are you feeling?"

"Huh?" Dorothy's face flushed. Did he... did he actually care about something like that? "I feel fine, thank you."

"Good. I wouldn't want you to be distracted in class from worrying about last night."

"Last night?" The events of the tower came back to her and she shook her head. "No. It was all fake. The demon was only trying to break me." Her little chest puffed up with pride, "But I'm too strong to let it get me down! I am a Demon Hunter, after all."

Siem couldn't help but wince at that. "But what about Bassy? Bassy was real. He tried to kill you."

"He didn't mean to." She replied straight away as she tied her ribbon in her hair, "It's forgivable. I tried to kill him, too."

"..." Siem looked at her darkly, "... Hey, doll, what are you here to do?"

"Kill demons."

"You have to fight demons to kill them. Do you want to?"

Dorothy clenched her fists with determination. "I'll do whatever it takes."

Siem smirked, wanting to test the waters a little further. "... But you are weak. Weaker than the others. You do realise that you have been protected by your Toto more than you've used it to kill a demon, do you -"

"SIEM!" Dorothy barked, smacking her hands down on her dresser. "... Everything is OK now. Things are OK. Even if you say they're not..." She turned to him with a small smile. Her eyes had a spark in them, a tiny light of something fragile and naive.

"I haven't lost hope."