Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 78
Most of the crowd between the stage and Devil were smarter than Atlas and began to push towards the sides of the rooms, getting closer to the exits but not quite bolting—not yet. This promised to be an even better show than what they’d come to see.
Crystallize continued to glare at him, but he saw her eyes drift to the grav sled on the balcony behind him. The brain of this pair wasn’t smart enough, it would seem.
“It’s too late to get out,” Devil announced, turning his grin on her instead. “You have both been declared Powered Criminals and arrest warrants have been issued across The Authority.”
“On what grounds?” Crystallize crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip, trying to adopt a coldly confident stance. “Attending a private function? One that you have rudely intruded on, I might add. If anything, you are the one who should be concerned about facing charges. I don’t know what you think you are doing, but this is a fully sanctioned event and you were not invited.”
“Yeah!” Atlas stated dumbly. “If you aren’t out of here in thirty seconds, I’ll have to arrest you for trespassing.” He seemed to have finally caught up to what was happening and took what he thought was a menacing step towards Dashing Devil.
“Sanctioned by whom?” Devil didn’t see a reason not to gather incriminating evidence against anyone they might try to name-drop.
He scanned the crowd and saw the supposed Channel sisters in a clump off to the right. Mind Witch and Kitsune had edged their way as close to the stage as they could without being suspicious. Silver was glaring at the back of a man in a blue coat over a black shirt.
“I am in no way required to answer that question,” the bleach-blonde snapped.
Crystallize proved she had at least some brains. Meanwhile, Atlas proved he did not.
“We have Directors come to these all the time,” he boasted.
After glaring at Atlas, Crystallize turned to Devil. She seethed through a very forced smile, “Look, Dashing Devil, you are in over your head. I don’t know what you think you are doing here, but you will be charged for trespassing if you don’t leave. These are very important people and the event and all activities it involves have official approval.”
Devil rolled his eyes dismissively. “Oh, of course,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “We’re here merely by chance, having casually flown by and glimpsed through your window the exact moment you were about to cold-bloodedly murder a child.”
Hopewing giggled from where she had set up just behind him and to the right. There, she would be out of the way of his wings if he needed to snap them open but was still close enough to cover them both with a single barrier. “We were just taking a romantic night flight more than a hundred and fifty miles from the nearest city.”
“Shit!” Crystallize finally realized the full extent of what their presence here meant.
“Why would ya go and do a thing like that for?” Atlas clearly didn’t understand; even Hopewing’s blatant sarcasm went over his head.
“We mentioned arrest warrants, didn’t we?” Hopewing said with a snicker.
Devil smirked, ignoring Atlas until the fighting started. He shifted into a loose reactionary combat stance as Crystallize adjusted her footing. “I didn’t say I would be issuing the warrants; we have warrants. We already have footage of a few of your little performances. Catching you in the act was just to add additional charges—and to make the arrest.”
“Catching us in what act, exactly?” Crystallize likely wanted to know how much shit they were in.
Devil had scanned the Changed with his Black Flame Vision once they’d been brought up from deep underground where they had been held. The dog featured boy was the brightest, likely in the C-Ranking. The girl with flowering vines for hair and pale green skin was somewhere in the upper D-Ranks. The woman with the duck bill and webbed feet was the weakest—a lower D-ranked.
“Well, based on the prior renditions of the spectacle you two typically put on, Atlas will beat the boy to death after his fiery speech. Then, you’ll give a much more coherent speech about how important it is for every member of the Ascended Coalition to assist in the culling of the Changed.”
Crystallize looked shocked.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t think I knew that name?” Devil snorted. “You’ll get this group of distinguished members of high society all worked up and then pass out the bats, or rocks, or fucking golf clubs. From there you’ll get as many of them as you can to beat the duck-Changed to death.” Devil allowed his glare to shift over the party goers, many of whom were inching toward the exits.
“It’s a basic cult tactic,” Devil explained for any who didn’t already understand what they’d allowed themselves to fall prey to. “It is very effective at creating an ‘us versus them’ mentality. It also gives those who get a twisted thrill from participating a sense of power they aren’t going to find elsewhere—which I’m sure is addictive. Anyone who experiences guilt also feels culpable, either for participating or for not stopping the others. Everyone is left holding the bag which means if one goes down, you all go down. This way, even those they know they have participated in an evil act can’t report it.”
He turned back to Crystallize, who now stared back at him with a face as pale as her costume. “Once that is done, you probably expected to cap off the night with a dazzling display of your power as you viciously murdered the floral-Changed girl. Well, I’m sure that was the plan. But, like I said before, tonight’s entertainment will be much more scintillating than your normal fare.”
“Shut the fuck up with your big words,” Atlas growled as he took two menacing strides forward, his features twisted into a snarl. “Like the lady said, everything we’re doing is authorized and legal. Now fuck off or die.”
“Unfortunately for ‘the lady’… though I assure you that murderess is anything but,” Devil sneered, “she either doesn’t understand The Authority’s laws or she does understand them and was trying to bluff her way out of being arrested.”
Devil turned back to Atlas, who was likely to make the first move, and shifted his stance accordingly. “Out here in the Wild Lands, the general laws still apply. No one can sanction the intentional ending of a sentient life outside of self-defense.”
“That’s…” Crystallize started to say, but Devil didn’t care to hear whatever bullshit she was about to spout.
“Enough!” Devil rumbled, taking on his official declaration tone and letting his voice wash over the ballroom. “We are here with a warrant to arrest all attendees and staff of this ‘event’. Everyone is to get on their knees and lace their fingers behind their heads. Anyone who fails to do so will be treated as a hostile criminal.”
Murmurs went through the crowd of well-dressed attendees as the smartest among them started heading for the doors. The dumbest stayed on their feet, likely assuming that the Powered of their side would surely triumph over some dirty Changed. The ones of middling intelligence got on their knees and put their hands behind their heads. That would have been the smart thing to do—if there wasn’t a Powered altercation about to go down in the room.
“Any Powered amongst you, including you two on the stage, who resist arrest will be treated as hostile Powered Criminals and taken by force.” Devil kept his eyes on the ‘Heroes’ as they engaged in a brief hushed conversation where Crystallize tried and likely failed to get Atlas to understand the situation.
“Yeah, fuck that,” Atlas snapped and spun on Devil in a rage. “If I won’t be able to be a Hero anymore, I may as well take you with me. That way, I’ll be the guy that killed the Corruptor…”
Atlas blinked as his own words triggered a revelation. “That’s right… if I kill you, I’ll be a Hero either way. Now it really is time for you to fuck off AND die!”
With that, Atlas leaped with enough force to shatter the wooden slats of the stage he had been standing on as he sent himself in a high arch that would bring him down on Devil.
Watching him come, Devil knew that with a thought he could have Silver sweep the S-ranked out of the air with her eye-beams and bring this fight to a quick close. That would probably be the smartest thing to do. But he wanted to test his new strength, having just broken through into S-Ranked in physical might. The big demon also had his angel to support him, and this pair was not their match.
Instead, as the man who’d donned rocks that might just be smarter than he was reached the zenith of his jump, Devil gave the mental command, ‘Hammer will handle Atlas. Commence Phase three.’
Chapter 24
Devil watched the descending Unbreakable Atlas come down at him with knees and arms bent. It was clear he intended to crash into the big demon and take him to the ground—not that he’d let that happen.
Atlas was a difficult opponent for Devil. His toughness and strength were from his physiology as opposed to any form of energy the demon Changed’s Black Flame might disrupt. He looked human and was an organic being, but his cells had more in common with diamonds than the average human’s.
Devil’s punches would impart plenty of force, but would do very little damage. Meanwhile, the big to everyone but Devil Powered Criminal was strong enough to crush Devil’s skull if he got ahold of him. If he were smarter than a rock, he might be dangerous.
Devil wasn’t reliant on the mental comms Mind Witch had established to communicate with his Devoted. Each of them could sense him almost as well as he could sense them—especially when he was holding the Bonds they shared as wide open as he was currently doing. They could sense his desires just as he felt theirs.
And right now, he desired a wall to appear just in front of Atlas.
Hopewing summoned a golden barrier into existence precisely where he needed it as Devil dropped into a crouch before springing into the air. Atlas crashed into the barrier with his knees first and brought his fists down onto it with a shout. He was no Last Dragon, though, so the golden barrier didn’t even quiver.
However, it did vanish from existence just as quickly as it appeared—a split-second before Devil’s rising fist would have crashed into it. Instead, his big red fist slammed directly into Atlas’s nose. The barrier had robbed Atlas of all of his momentum, leaving him more or less stationary in the air. That is until Devil, a large and heavy object in motion, imparted all sorts of force directly onto his face.
Newton’s third law did its thing, and the big demon came to a stop in the air before dropping to the ground with a casual bounce of the knees. Atlas, meanwhile, went flying through the wall between two arching armored windows set over the stage. With a shout, he soared off into the forested valley beyond.
Pandemonium broke loose as all of the rich and powerful people present realized that their money wouldn’t buy them a Hero who could stop the big demon in front of them. They started pushing and shoving for the nearest door, kicking and punching each other to try to be the ones first out. Each shouted over the others, insisting that their importance was enough to make the rest of the group clear a path for them.
Crystallize lifted her hands over her head as dozens of shards of shimmering crystals with dangerous edges appeared in the air around her. Each was about as long as Devil’s forearm and looked decidedly lethal. They made a tinkling sound that could barely be heard over the yammering crowd of panicked socialites as they came into existence.
“Atlas is an idiot, but he was right about one thing,” the enraged woman shouted over the fleeing mass of socialites. “The only possible way out of this we have is through you, so fuck off and—oof!”
Her less-than-polite request for Devil’s death was cut off by a pissed-off six-tailed Kitsune’s flying dropkick delivered directly to Crystallize’s ribs under her raised left arm. Devil would have smirked, but his heart stopped instead as the crystals that were still floating in the air dropped on his fox-featured love, tearing into her.
‘I hate that,’ Devil groaned over their mental comms as Kitsune’s illusionary clone was torn into wisps of fiery red and crimson-green smoke.
‘Sorry Big Guy,’ Kitsune replied over their telepathic comms as he spotted two of her, one collecting the duck-billed woman from the cage while the other scooped up the dog-featured boy.
Another Kitsune appeared and charged behind the curtains where the one that had been destroyed had kicked Crystallize. Now that she had six tails and a matching number of illusions, it only took three of them merging to make a ‘real’ copy of her.
With potentially three of her, Kitsune could now officially pull off a one-woman orgy.
‘I felt your heart break a little just now, so I’ll try to give you a warning in the future. But honestly, I didn’t expect that me to go down so quickly. I had to get her away from the kids, though. This me will be more careful. She’s down but not… damn!’
Another Kitsune clone appeared and charged behind the curtain.
‘Never mind, not down.’
At that moment, Atlas came bursting back through the wall and landed about twenty yards away from Devil before coming right at him in a sprint. Devil stood perfectly still, wondering how many times he could get away with the same trick. Atlas wound his fist back as he closed, telegraphing a punch so loudly that the big demon almost decided to change how to counter it—almost.
He hadn’t been able to use the barrier-n-punt tactic in so long, though, that he decided to stick with the classic. Hopewing’s barrier appeared exactly where and when he wanted it through a combination of years of practice during childhood and adolescence, combined with a level of communication possible only through the Bond he shared with his angel.
The golden barrier disappeared just in time for his sweeping tail to pass unencumbered through that space to catch Atlas in the side. Devil completed his quick spin—one practiced more in dance class than in combatives’ training—just in time to see Atlas crash through another wall. The big Powered skipped off the lawn that surrounded the mansion once before tumbling into and disappearing among the shadows of the forest beyond. Faintly, Devil heard the echo as he crashed through several trees.
‘Well… shit,’ Kitsune complained as another clone appeared and raced off towards where Crystallize was still out of sight behind the curtains as the other two of her and Mind Witch hurried their charges off the stage.
‘She’s lethal in close quarters,’ Kitsune reported. ‘I can keep stalling her, but I don’t think I’m taking her down any time soon.’
‘Hermm!’ Silver made a frustrated sound.
Devil watched her blur around a very scared-looking man in the blue jacket over a black shirt. He looked like a typical high-level manager—slightly overweight from a lack of physical activity, but not obese due to a healthy diet. Still, when Silver tried to donkey punch him, her fist just seemed to bounce off his skull as if it were steel. It was as if she wasn’t ridiculously strong.
‘What the heck?’ Silver asked over their mental comms.
She then darted up into the air, aimed her outstretched hands at the man, and unleashed a flurry of silver energy orbs that crashed into him. These… did nothing.
“Oh, come on!” the silver-haired bombshell complained out loud, before trying her eye beams to similar effect.
“No fair!” she huffed in exasperation.
Silver’s foot stomped the air while she anchored her hands on her hips in a clear display of annoyance. It was a mix of frustration and disbelief that this plain-looking man could withstand her formidable attacks without a scratch.
“He’s not on his knees so I get to beat him up… but he won’t get beat up!” she shouted before stamping her foot in mid-air again.
Just then, one of the large round tables that were scattered around the edge of the ornate ballroom the fight was in the process of demolishing arched through the air on a path for Silver’s back. She felt Devil’s desire for her to dodge to the left and followed it, smoothly sliding out of the improvised projectile’s path and spinning to face her new attacker. Her hand flashed out and a silver ball of energy lanced out, catching the gangly middle-aged man in a beige suit over a blue shirt in the shin.
The silver orb took his leg out from under him while scorching the fabric of his pants and leaving an angry red welt on the skin beneath. He didn’t feel it burn for long, though. Untrained and unprepared, he didn’t get his arms up in time to protect his head after his leg was ripped out from under him. His head cracked against the marble floor of the ballroom, and he went limp.
‘Hopewing,’ Devil rumbled over their mental comms. He glanced over his shoulder at his angel.
Her suit had gotten an update from Tinker. It was still primarily a white bodysuit, but instead of armored golden plates, it had metallic gold accents strategically placed along her sides, shoulders, arms, and on her thighs. The small change added a very different effect to the full body covering. The gold was meant to accentuate her fertility goddess figure, which she was very excited about.
Hope had not been pleased that her former suit was designed to match, but not outshine, the Blonde Buffoon’s. It hadn’t been long before she’d asked Tinker to make her a new one, weaving her own blonde hair into the gold accents.
A flap of the angel’s wings took her a bit closer before a golden pulse of energy radiated from her halo. It currently glowed gold, despite her proximity to Dashing Devil. She’d said it was a simple act of will to cover the pink-in-his-presence halo with a barrier to hide the sinful effect he had on the symbol of purity. This pulse reached and washed over the downed man who had taken a swing at a Hero way out of his league.
In addition to the mental defense boost it granted, his angel’s halo gave her the ability to heal others at a distance—if only to a limited degree. They had yet to have many opportunities to test it, though, as intentionally inflicted injuries was taken right off the table by several very adamant parties before anyone had the chance to suggest it, not that Devil intended to have anyone suffer such injuries… other than himself.
