Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 126
Knowing he needed to keep from dragging things out, he stepped forward. Devil matched Mightbreaker’s intensity as he landed a savage roundhouse kick, connecting with the side of his opponent’s head. Mightbreaker staggered, but he didn’t go down. The Criminal’s S-Ranked resistance kept him on his feet, giving the big demon a small measure of respect for the man’s tenacity.
His voice sounding a bit strained, Mightbreaker straightened and grudgingly admitted, “Not bad… you’ve got some skills, Devil, but I won’t go down that easy.”
The big demon smirked, his eyes glinting with anticipation. “No, you won’t go down easy, but you will go down,” he replied, his voice carrying a hint of grudging respect for his opponent.
Their exchange was brief, as Mightbreaker launched himself forward. The man’s body was a whirlwind of punches and kicks, his S-Ranked strength fueling his speed and ferocity. Devil’s muscles tensed and coiled like springs as he deftly dodged and parried, his mind tracking the precursors of every move.
Mightbreaker was a formidable foe, and he pushed Devil to his limits. The sheer thrill of fighting on equal ground with such a strong and skilled opponent sent a spike of adrenaline coursing through his veins. It wasn’t every day the big demon had a good fight. Each powerful strike echoed through the city, shaking the ground and splitting the air as the two titans clashed.
Devil unleashed a ferocity that matched Mightbreaker’s, their battle becoming a relentless symphony of raw power and lightning blows. Each strike brought them closer to the brink of victory, drawing on every ounce of strength each possessed. But Mightbreaker showed no signs of slowing down, his S-Ranked strength and durability propelling him forward with unyielding determination. He pummeled at Devil mercilessly, determined to bludgeon his opponent into submission.
Mightbreaker landed his first solid series of hits. It started with a sharp kick to Devil’s instep that caused him to stumble, followed by a brutal jab that pierced his defenses to collide with his shoulder. In that moment of vulnerability, Mightbreaker launched a punishing roundhouse kick into his opponent’s ribs, the impact causing Devil’s bones to creak dangerously before he was blasted off of his feet.
The big demon wasn’t able to get his wings open in time and crashed through the solid concrete wall of a nearby building. He continued through a second, slightly less solid wall before he was able to bleed off the momentum of the kick. Devil bounced off the ceiling, took out some acoustic tiles, then cratered into a third wall. From there, he tumbled to the ground among some debris that fell from the wall.
‘Temporarily off Mightbreaker, watch him,’ Devil sent over their mental comms to his team.
‘He’s watching the hole, waiting for you,’ Mind Witch replied. ‘I think we’re going to need an assist with at least one of these three. We lack a ranged option, and they have short, mid, and long-range solidly covered.’
‘On it,’ Boyd rumbled back as he pulled himself to his feet and brushed himself off.
Glancing around the room he’d crashed into, he found himself in some sort of changing room. The size of the wooden cubbies threw him off a bit, reminding him that he was a bit taller than everyone else. Most of the cubbies were filled with child-sized ballet leotards, complete with fluffy tutus. He was about to thank his lucky stars that what appeared to be a children’s dance studio’s changing room was empty when he’d crashed through it, but he was interrupted.
“Please…” a weak and disconcertingly wet-sounding voice drew his eye to the rubble of the second wall he had blasted through.
Boyd’s gaze landed on an outstretched arm that he traced back to a young man’s pale and terrified face. The teenager was pinned under several large chunks of concrete and drywall, with metal pipes mixed in with the debris. His wide blue eyes were shaky, and a line of blood trailed down from his dirty blonde hairline, indicating a head injury. “Please… hah… h-help… m-my… sis-sister.”
Those blue eyes widened before going glassy. His outstretched arm fell limp, dropping to the floor with a very final-sounding thud. It was nothing compared to the impacts generated by Silver’s fight with Vortex or his own with Mightbreaker, but that thud somehow echoed in Boyd’s ears as if it was a hundred times louder.
“No,” he breathed, with his first step being toward the injured child. “No, no, no…” he continued as he reached and carefully removed some of the rubble. The young man looked to be sixteen, maybe seventeen. Just a boy, really. One of the mental pipes from the second wall had pierced his lower back.
When Devil leaned down to see if had pierced completely through the teen, he froze. Under the young man was an even younger girl—nine, maybe ten years old.
She was dressed in a pale pink leotard, complete with fluffy tutu. Now, though, more than half of the leotard was stained a dark, wet crimson. And it wasn’t all from her brother. The pipe that pierced the teen’s lower abdomen had passed through him and into her chest.
Her small, fragile chest.
“No,” Devil wailed softly.
Then, a brief hope shined bright in his mind. His angel was nearby. He literally had Hope. There might still be time. He flicked on his Black Flame Vision, which he’d learned to use to confirm life.
Under it, he saw the assorted and dim motes of life that were present in the non-Powered draining from the young man. Under his corpse, brighter and more solid pale pink motes leaked from the girl, drifting listlessly in the air around her.
She had been Powered. Nothing major. Likely a D-Rank or maybe C-ranked, but too many of her motes had leaked out for him to correctly categorize her.
It didn’t matter now, though. She was dead.
The big demon leaned back and let loose a roar that contained all his rage, frustration, and remorse. The entire building shook. Then he rose to his feet, carefully stepping around the civilians his foolhardiness had failed to protect on the way to the exterior wall he had blasted through.
Devil made a conscious decision about Mightbreaker’s fate before activating the team’s official comms. “Two adolescent civilians confirmed deceased,” the big demon growled. “We are ending this now, before anyone else gets hurt. Coming out hot.”
Dashing Devil charged forward, building some speed before launching himself back into the fight.
Chapter 14
The big demon shot out of the hole he’d left in the second story of what he now knew to be a multipurpose building. His wings snapped open, and he flew up into the sky as he pushed his Black Flame into them and every other part of him that supported it. The flames roiled off of him, flickering soundlessly as he propelled himself fifty feet above the street.
He scanned the scene, finding Mightbreaker where he’d left him. A smug smirk that Devil looked forward to removing was smeared across his face. His team, minus Silver, still squared off in a stalemate with the sci-fi rejects. He had to track Silver by the sound of their fight and the sense he got from her over their Bond.
It was still happening high in the sky above the city.
He checked in with his Bonds. Silver’s rage burned like hot coals—a rage she was starting to take out on Vortex. Kitsune’s fury also ran deep, and she wanted to claw Mightbreaker’s eyes out. Hopewing’s sorrow hung heavy about her shoulders like a lead weight. Mind Witch carried a mixture of the two—both anger and sorrow—which melded together into a bitter sense of disappointment.
Trainee was in a state of shock, although Devil sensed her already starting to recover. She had lost patients as a nurse, but being in a fight on the street had a different kind of energy to it than moments of crisis in the ER—an energy that his sudden announcement of the death of two children dumped ice water over.
Tinker was mostly heartbroken and angry about the kids, but she also worried about her man. His little inventor wasn’t concerned about him getting hurt or anything, she was worried about what he might do next. He hoped he didn’t disappoint her too much—more specifically, that she could forgive him.
Devil harnessed his loves’ emotions just like he did his own, forcing them to serve him instead of him serving them. He’d already made his decision. Now, it was time to act on it.
“I’m about to change your circumstances,” Devil growled over the comms. “When I do, it’ll be time for you to act, Trainee. Test your Power on Mauler. Kitsune and Hopewing, cover for her. Mind Witch is up next, if Trainee’s Power isn’t effective.”
Not waiting for a response, Devil ripped two Billy Balls off his harness and charged them with his dark fire. He used his wings to stabilize himself in a short glide as he threw them in rapid succession. They both streaked through the air on the way to their targets.
One caught Psyburst in the face, shattering into obsidian shards and a burst of sand as it took him off the feet. His tacky sunglasses shattered, its pieces lost amongst the shards of black stone. Based off the splash of red that burst through the air along with the sand, obsidian, and pieces of his sunglasses, the big demon had broken his nose.
Devil wished he could have heard the satisfying crunch of the man’s nose breaking. He knew he would have done, if he was closer. Psyburst was down for the count, which had been his goal.
The second throw was close to perfect, landing a few inches up and to the side of Eclipse Master’s face. It caught him in the skull, but the angle wasn’t great and much of the force of its impact was wasted. It still rang his bell, though, causing him to stumble to one side and fall to the ground.
“Go now,” Devil rumbled over the comms as he sent as much courage as he could down their Bond to Trainee. He saw her charge forward before he turned away—and while he wished he could watch longer, he had a job to do.
Turning to glare at Mightbreaker, and struggling to keep his rage on a leash, Devil dropped into a short dive. He propelled himself downward with a flap of his wings. Pulling his wings in, he executed tight half-flip to land about fifteen feet away from his target. His claws pierced the shattered pavement when he dug his toes in, dipped low, and converted strength to speed that propelled him toward the criminal at hip level. Devil watched the S-Ranked criminal slide a step to the side.
Mightbreaker obviously prepared to take advantage of an action he perceived as hot-headed.
Devil suddenly planted his hands on the concrete. Digging two short furrows into the road with them, he threw himself into a front handspring over his opponent that kept him out of Mightbreaker’s grasp. While the surprise maneuver kept the big demon out of the criminal’s reach, it didn’t keep the criminal out of range of Devil’s tail.
It lashed out, catching Mightbreaker by the left bicep. Without letting his feet touch the ground, Boyd’s wings shot wide and gave a single mighty flap, sending both demon and criminal thirty feet into the air. Once airborne, Boyd released Mightbreaker while he was still reeling from his surprise and before he could get a grip on Devil’s tail.
Twisting in the air, where he was much more comfortable than his opponent, Devil’s wings gave a short reverse flap to get beneath his foe. As he passed beneath the Powered Criminal, the big demon’s right hand flashed out and caught him by the left ankle. He swung him around once, as if was windmilling a punch, and tossed him another thirty feet into the air.
Newton’s third law did its thing, and Devil was propelled towards the ground even faster. Upon landing, he leaped right back into the sky and gave two flaps of his wings while kicking his main booster to max in order to catch Mightbreaker just as he started to fall. He reached him as the man righted himself and prepared for a controlled fall. Of course, righting himself had required going spread eagle, so he was far from prepared to defend against the big crimson fist that caught him in the solar plexus.
S-Ranked resistance or not, Devil was pleased to hear the wheeze of air he forced out of Mightbreaker’s lungs. Then, the pissed off demon followed through with the punch, using it to propel Mightbreaker another twenty or more feet into the air. As he’d struck his target when the Powered Criminal was just beginning to fall, Boyd was not sent back towards the street. Instead, he simply stalled in the air.
Another powerful flap sent him after his target. Kicking all his boosters to their max this time, Devil rocketed upwards until he reached a flailing Mightbreaker who tried to regain control of his fall. The man watched, wide eyed, as Devil came at him, still trailing Black Flames from his wings, hands, feet, and tail in relentless pursuit.
The big demon saw it in his eyes as they widened. Mightbreaker knew this wasn’t the same opponent he had started a fight with. This wasn’t an opponent at all—nor was this a fight. This was a predator on the hunt. Suddenly, the S-Ranked Powered Criminal addicted to fighting and killing knew fear—knew he was nothing more than this hunter’s prey.
Devil’s wings and body contorted as he closed on the floundering criminal, ensuring he could get the hold he wanted. Mightbreaker tried to throw a desperate punch, which the big demon dodged easily given the difference in their relative dexterity while in the air. All the punch achieved was making Mightbreaker spin out of control.
This only made getting the grip Boyd wanted that much easier.
The big demon’s tail lashed out and wrapped around the criminal’s right leg. Using that, he pulled Mightbreaker into position and got him in a headlock under his left arm. As they began to fall together, the Powered Criminal started delivering body blows which limited damage, being robbed of most of their force by the Criminal’s poor angle and lack of leverage.
“You will never hurt anyone ever again!” Devil growled as he tensed his muscles for what came next.
“Fuck you!” Mightbreaker snarled, delivering another rib bruising body blow that Devil simply ignored. “This fight isn’t—Herk!”
The fight was, in fact, over the second those kids died because of it. The big demon explained this to Mightbreaker with a rage-filled roar, then pulled as hard on the man’s leg with his tail as he could while wrenching the man’s neck abruptly to the side with every ounce of strength he had in his upper body.
Devil heard the satisfying crunch, that was just as final—if not nearly as loud in his ears—as the boy’s hand hitting the ground had been.
Mightbreaker went limp and the body blows stopped. He dropped the corpse about twenty feet off the ground as, with a mighty flap of his wings, he came in for a much more graceful landing next to where the Powered Criminal’s lifeless body bounced off the road.
Devil flicked on his Black Flame vision to confirm that the olive-green motes of light that made up Mightbreaker’s form and filled his cores were already dissipating. Dismissing the dark fire in his eyes, he checked on the rest of the fight. With two Billy Balls, he’d drastically changed the situation most of his loves faced. Psyburst lay sprawled out where Boyd had last seen him. Eclipse Master had tried to run—at least that’s what the big demon assumed, given that he was about ten yards further down the street than where he’d been. Kitsune stood over his unconscious form.
Meanwhile, a very proud Trainee looked down at a sleeping Granite Mauler, who her Power apparently worked on just fine. He’d watch the replay later to look for any critique he might offer. For now, though, the job still wasn’t done.
Devil leaped back into the air and gave a flap to get him accelerating before he fired the boosters on his back and wings. Just before he crested the nearby twenty to thirty story buildings he growled over their comms, “Vortex is the last one standing. Let’s wrap this up. Bring her to me, Silver.”
The big demon got roughly ten yards higher than the tallest nearby building before he held his wings in the carefully controlled position required that enabled him to hover with the boosters. It had taken quite a bit of practice to master the trick of it, but he had never been afraid of a little hard work. Now, he made it look almost natural.
“Will do, Darling,” Silver replied, her sweet voice containing only a hint of the rage he sensed still roiling from her across their Bond.
The Devoted’s Captain panned the sky, using the ongoing thunderous impacts generated by Silver’s fight to aid his sense of where his love was. He saw the pair locked in fierce combat as they flew, Silver leading Vortex through a curve that would bring them to him.
The big demon reversed his hold on his Aura, pushing it out and magnifying it, instead of repressing it. Then, he reached out and slammed a mental tether into Vortex’s mind while reaching into his loves’ minds to gather their strong emotions for him.
“Break off on my call,” Devil rumbled as he waited for them to get close enough.
“Got it,” Silver replied.
She didn’t keep him waiting long, given the speed at which the women flew. As soon as they were close enough that he was sure Vortex would spot him once Silver wasn’t in her face, he called, “Now!”
When Silver split away to the side, the big demon dumped all of the attraction he’d siphoned from his loves into Violet Vortex’s criminally unstable brain. As a silver streak darted away from the black clad woman, she was left floating in confusion for a long moment.
He forced himself to smile at her when her green eyes settled on him, which felt gross but the scowl he wanted to show her might have warned her to maintain her distance. He must have been convincing enough because after a big smile split her lips a black blur darted over to him, stopping less than two feet away.
“Hi… um… Devil,” Violet Vortex beamed at him, happy as a clam with brilliant green eyes that rapidly filled with lust. “I guess I chased that skank off… can we fuck now?”
A darkly burning crimson fist lashed out, catching her in her slender throat with enough force to crush her windpipe but not enough to snap her spine or take her head off.
“Urk!” the Powered Criminal gagged in surprise, eyes going wide as the purple fire that gathered around her hands sputtered out.
Without her Powers active, she began to fall.
Boyd clamped down on her shoulder to catch her, squeezing hard enough to hurt without breaking anything. Her hands clutched her throat, pulling at it as if she could force it back open. For all he knew, she might have a Powered recovery rate faster than his that had remained hidden until now by her S-Ranked resistance.
