Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Gusts of blistering winds blew as the sky shed white tears to cover up the horrors that dwelled on the streets below. Jalen flew above Regency Avenue; once a scenic destination with lush, towering trees that lined its center was now tarnished by the blood of the unfortunate.

The whirring rumble of helicopters with searchlights snaked across the horizon. He soon came across a magnificent three-story mansion, built with red bricks and white limestones, and adorned with grand classical features. However, his interest lay in the shadowy figures moving about on the street below before the manor, where the disastrous protest occurred. Among those figures on Regency Avenue were many corpses belonging to humans, spawn, and demons.

He descended. The Knights of Arixxer, in battle-tested armor smeared in blood, stood guard with other agents from HAVEN. At the heart of their gathering was their Grand Master, locked in animated conversation with Mason and Mayor Hansen, a man of smaller stature with a prominent jawline. Just a few meters away from them, there were three demons, tightly bound, blindfolded, and badly beaten.

As he drew nearer to the ground, everyone present spotted him and jolted alert, with their weapons raised. Unbothered, he landed softly as they surrounded him.

"For being touted as the best demon hunters," Jalen said, "I expected more from you Knights of Arixxer. I have done more in the past week than your efforts since you came to this city. Whose brilliant idea was it to keep the tsuchigumo's existence a secret, anyway?"

Dynamo had filled him in on everything important relating to HAVEN's strategy for dealing with the demons, including the way these knights worked and the identity of their Grand Master, Persia Gemellianus, who he encountered at the courthouse.

Persia's deadly gaze locked with his as a frosty whirlwind sprang up by her feet. "Jalen Nkanga." She voiced with vitriol.

"Persia Gemellianus." He returned her energy.

She marched closer with heavy steps, her blood-stained metal armor clanking and her tattered red cape flapping. "You have finally revealed yourself for what you truly are. Are you allied with the demons?"

"No."

"Then what are you doing here?"

He smiled. "I came to have a chat with those demons you have there."

The Grand Master gave a dismissive hiss. "Over my dead body. Do you honestly think things will go your way? That whatever plans you are concocting will come to fruition? Nonsense! Apprehend him."

"Indeed, I do. As a matter of fact, things have already played to my liking." Then his gaze swept across the knights, who were seconds from attacking him. "Now, I urge you all to weigh your next moves carefully. And while you deliberate, ask Mason what happens to those who oppose me. If you challenge me, it will be your end."

Her knights stood still, turning to their Grand Master for further instructions.

"Persia, perhaps you should rethink your strategy," Mason said. "What we want is the tsuchigumo, not him. We need to stay on track."

"Enough!" Persia waved a disapproving finger in Mason's face. "I am past hearing your opinions, your ideas, or any more fucking cigarette smoke infested vile spilling from your mouth."

Seething with rage, the blistering aura around Persia intensified, pushing Mason away. Then, abruptly, the whirlwind vanished. Shocked, Persia turned to the artifact floating by her side. The levitating ball erupted into a light show, flashing the many symbols engraved on its surface.

"Why?" Persia exclaimed. "You've never done this before."

After another series of flashing symbols, the Grand Master threw her hands in frustration. "How the fuck are you protecting me by withdrawing your powers?" She screamed, letting the pent-up anger out. "Fine! We'll have it your way. Knights, stand down!"

Fascinated by the artifact, he turned up his senses to scan it. Yet, he came up empty, its glistening metal surface shielding whatever secrets it held within. Still, his efforts had not been futile because the artifact turned its attention to him, displaying a glimmer of sentience.

How peculiar.

Regardless, he came here for a reason and he would have what he wanted. On his way past the Grand Master toward the demons, Persia voiced her thoughts.

"I should have gutted you at the courthouse and been done with it."

"Back then, I was pretending to be something else," he said. "You'll have only found that I am much more dangerous than I let on, Grand Master."

The bound demons sensed his presence and cowered in fear. He studied their features; the coarse skin texture of the one on the left, the middle one, who was the largest with a short beak for his mouth, and the female on the right spotting a long prehensile tail. During his time spent with the blabbering Prillon, the demon had shared basic knowledge about demonic biology. So now, he could tell a demon's sex just from a glance. As unfortunate as that was.

Mason came closer. "I received a report that hundreds of thousands of civilians escaped via portals. You responsible?"

"Yes. That was my doing."

Mason offered a handshake. "We may never see eye to eye. But for all it's worth, you have my gratitude for saving those people." 

He grabbed the birdlike demon by the neck, ignoring the outstretched hand. "By the end of it all, let's see if you'll offer that same gratitude."

Then he shot into the sky with the demon in his grasp. His blistering accent cracked the surrounding air into shockwaves. Soon he soared above the clouds, still rapidly ascending. The demon screamed at the top of his lungs, his blindfold long lost. The ground shrunk into a continental sized landscape dotted with networks of fluffy clouds. Only when he could glimpse the full curvature of the Earth in all its breathtaking glory did he come to a stop.

"The fuck are you doing, dude?" the demon gasped, the vacuum of space visibly disorientating to him.

He tightened his fist around the demon's neck. "Seems you can survive in space. That's good. It'd be a shame if you died so soon."

The demon gulped when he focused on Jalen. "What do you want? Did I kill someone you cherish? No hard feelings, dude. It wasn't personal."

"You see, the issue is, it's personal. Very fucking personal. I have questions that you'll answer truthfully. If not, we'll find out how well you survive reentry."

The demon gazed at the planet below and nodded his head in agreement. "Fine. But you must release me safely after we are done. You got that?"

"Of course. You have my word. Now, what was your motive for killing the mortals?"

"What motive would I need? I'm a demon, for fuck sake. I live to reign terror."

He loosened his grip a bit.

"S-shit! Okay, okay," the demon stammered. "You got me there. Power. I was promised an evolution."

"By who?"

"By a scary ass giant spider. Bitch gave me the creeps, dude. But more power was too enticing to turn down just for killing some mortals."

His blood boiled at the mention of the elusive tsuchigumo. At last, he was making headway.

"What else does she want? What was her endgame after raising her army of spawn?"

"Dude, you are asking the wrong demon. I'm too insignificant to know all that shit."

He released the demon.

"Shit! Fuck!" The demon shook from fright. "Okay, I got you. Won't happen again. Please, dude. I'll tell you everything I know. I swear!"

The demon's voice grew quieter as he fell sideways above the planet, pulled in by Earth's immense gravitational pull. By the time Jalen retrieved the demon, he was more compliant and terrified.

"Okay, where were we?" Jalen said, more to himself.

"No sense reminding," the demon said. "I don't forget easily. The spider wants to cause so much havoc that Lord Belial, Archdevil of Ira, has no choice but to come out and handle the disrespect thrown his way. The raising of spawn en masse was a secondary goal."

"You mentioned his name."

The demon sneered. "Of course. Are you scared now that he may be paying attention to us?"

He held the demon's gaze, eyes steady and burning with his cosmic energy. "No. Not even a little bit. How would killing thousands of mortals who Belial has no stake in draw him out?"

"Wh…what?" the demon stuttered, his smug smile evaporating. "What are you?"

"Answer my question."

"Oh, yes. The spider tasked us with killing the mortals while she hunted down all of Belial's demons in the city by herself. That ought to get the fiery guy's attention. That's all I know. I swear."

"Where is the tsuchigumo?"

"I haven't the slightest idea, dude. She only comes around when she wants to be seen. Bitch is like a ghost."

"I see. You have done well."

The demon expelled a tense breath. "Okay, dude. Release me as you promised. Safely."

"Oh, of course." He gently and, ever so delicately, released his hold on the demon. As the reality of his doom set in, the demon cried.

"No, dude. You gave your word! Shit! Fuck you! I hope you burn in Belial's pits for all of eternity!"

The demon continued to spill obscenities on his descent orbit around the planet, destined to experience the fiery blaze of re-entry. However, that event would not pass for a few hours, so the demon had time to reminisce before his eventual demise.

Two steps forward, one step back, embodied Jalen's quest to find Jigoku Kumo. Still, as he dove into the planet, a smile crept on his face. The tsuchigumo's time was drawing near. There was nothing that could quench his thirst for her blood. 

He leveled out over the ocean that overlooked the entire coastline of New Jersey, mostly taken up by the Jersey Shore, which consisted of Long Beach Island, Harvey Cedars, and Seaside Heights.

He headed inland, appearing above Hermosville minutes later. His vigilant eyes swept across the massive city now harboring dangers unseen to the modern world. If he had any plans to spot the demon from his cloud-level vantage point, he quickly tossed that idea away, as doing so was a colossal waste of time, even if he could see humans.

Left with nothing else to do, he descended further till the houses below regained definition, thinking. If Jigoku Kumo had her way, the spawn roaming around the city would be a farce compared to the arrival of Belial and his army. Who's to predict what fate had in store for everything below? Now that he ensured the safety of his loved ones, his stake in the demonic feud greatly diminished. However, he could not let the city that he planned to control become a battleground for two demonic warring factions. No. He would kill the tsuchigumo and deal with Belial after.

"Aye. What's up, new god?"

He turned to the source of the voice. "Prillon."

"In the bloody flesh." Prillon bowed. "And as delectable as ever."

"The word you are looking for is agitating. Where were you?"

"Sightseeing. Took a look at that place you made for the mortals to weather out this storm. Seemed way too fucking big to serve only that purpose. Where is it located, anyway?"

"That's because it's a fully-fledged planet, Prillon. It can serve any purpose I want. As for its exact location, I couldn't even tell you if I wanted to. I just innately know where it is."

"And the large humanoids with wings? They looked strikingly similar to my mortal enemy. Well, my kind's, anyway."

"Angels." He stared ahead, focusing on something that fast approached. "There to provide security in case the demons think to use the portals."

Putting it lightly, Yun had been terribly busy since she returned to their home universe. It came as quite a surprise when he visited the planet she lived on and was greeted by battalions of celestial beings. Thankfully, he left Dynamo on the sanctuary planet so that he alone would witness the devoted worshiping of the angels in shame.

"Before today, I'd say my read on you was bloody spot on," Prillon mused. "Now I know I was sniffing the biggest, stinkiest pile of crap. No simple god can conjure up a planet on the fucking spot with arse-kissing angels to boot. Not even Satan himself can achieve that feat on such short notice. What the fuck are you, Jalen?"

Still squinting at the faraway object flying toward their general vicinity, he pointed ahead. "Do you see that?"

"See what? Hey! Don't change the fucking subject. You ain't sly. I'm a fucking imp, for crying out loud."

The object—a small bird adorned with a bright, multicolored plumage zipped by them—barely a whimper left in its wake. So he turned to watch it zoom away, certain that they had made eye contact. As if harboring the same thoughts, the bird turned around, clearly headed their way.