Pyromanic, Part 1

"Woah, Luis, you're repping some steel now, just like me!" Grover says to me.

"Hell yeah!" I reply, as I reach behind my back drawing my new katana out of its scabbard, revealing its shining silver blade.

"Woah…" Grover marvels.

"Isn't she a beauty?!" I ask.

"Isn't it...dangerous, carrying that around?" Ella nervously asks as she points to my katana.

"Yeah, for my enemies!" I reply. " I figured that my signature attack is creating a sword out of wind at this point, it's kind of my go-to when I catch my second wind and need a powerful attack. But, creating a sword out of wind is difficult, so if I use this katana as a benchmark, I can create wind swords far easier," I explain. I circulate my wind around my katana's blade as a demonstration, completely wrapping its blade in a fast, spinning tornado.

"Woah, nice moves!" Grover exclaims.

"Thanks!" I reply.

"Ugh, if you two keep geeking out like this I'll have an aneurysm!" Jamie snaps.

"Y-you will?" Ella nervously stutters.

"Oh, come on, you know you want to see my katana too!" I laugh.

"Ohhh…you're right, I do!" Jamie whines. "Show it to me!"

I display my shining silver blade to Grover and Jamie again, who simultaneously swoon in response, causing me to laugh.

 "Guns are cooler," Austin interrupts from across the room.

"You're just jealous that my katana is way cooler than your silly guns! They aren't even real! Just Cursed Powered! At least my sword is real!" I cry. Austin scoffs at me in response.

That's another cool thing about being a Pro Slayer. When the five of us eventually get our Pro Slayer License, which Nick says we will soon, if anyone questions us about our weapons, including my katana and Grover's knives, we can flash our Slayer License to them, and we're good!

***

A couple of hours agoo.

"Are you sure that you want it now? Your father said it was supposed to be for your eighteenth birthday?" My mom nervously asks me as I open up a long, rectangular box that I found in our attic, pulling out the katana that is inside.

You see, my dad was big into collecting katanas, or so I've been told. But after we left, my family struggled financially, so my mom needed to sell all of them to keep as afloat. Shy the katana my dad saved for my eighteenth birthday. I guess it's time for an early birthday present.

"Well he's not here now, is he?" I ask as I unsheath the katana, marveling at its long, uncurved silver blade, and black hilt wrapped in a blue cloth, which matches my hoodie. "And besides, I need it now more than ever."

"I…I'm just scared that you're going to cut yourself…" my mom stammars. I turn around to face my mom and smile.

"I'm doing this so that I don't get cut," I reply. "I'll be fine, trust me. I'm growing stronger each day."

"That's what I'm afraid of…"

Now, back to the present.

***

Bam bam bam! Bam bam bam! "Burn baby burn! HAHAHAHAHA!"

In the middle of the mall in the outdoor food court, a boy weidling dual pistols cackles madly as he rains volleys of bullets upon a giant demon rampaging through the mall. But not just ordinary bullets. The boy's bullets streak through the air like fireballs, and when they make contact with the demon, they explode in a rush of flames! Around the boy and the demon, civilians scream and run away, desperate to not get caught up in his flames. But some aren't quick enough, and are unintentionally burnt to a crisp by the boy's fire.

"All the demon scum in this world will burn!" The boy cackles. He continues firing volley after volley of flaming bullets upon the demon, until eventually, the demon lets out a howl of distress and collapses, sickly blue blood leaking out the hundreds of bullet holes in its body.

"Easy! That's one down!" The boy cackles.

The boy then turns to leave, but as he does so, three more demons show up.

"Oh, finally, a warm up!" The boy sneers. The boy aims his dual pistols at the demons again, unleashing volleys of flaming bullets upon them.

The demons let out a roar and charge the boy, flailing their limbs towards him. The boy dodges the demons' attacks with ease, before flipping his pistols around so that he's holding them backwards, clenching his hands into fists. A steady stream of flames escapes the barrels of both pistols, and by using the flame exhaust to boost his strength and speed, the boy slams his fist forwards, punching the demons, causing flames to shoot out everywhere, enveloping the demons and roatsign them alive, who howl in pain in response. The boy's punch sends the three demons flying backwards, killing them as well.

"Too easy!" He cackles. Again, the boy turns to leave, but this time, he's interrupted when a woman in an aqua blue suit with wave patterns approaches him.

"You there, halt! In the name of the International Pro Slayer Organization, I, Slayer Supurasshu, am here to take you out, Pyromaniac!" The woman booms.

"Woah, a Pro Slayer!"

"She'll save us!"

"This is why we should ban guns!"

The crowd cries. 

"EH?!" The boy -now known as the Pyromaniac- cries as he turns to face the civilizations heckling him. "I saved your asses from these demons! So what if a couple people or two…hundred, burnt up in the process!" The Pyromaniac then sighs. "Whatever, I'm not in it for the fame or glory anyway," the Pyromaniac grumbles to himself as he turns to face Slayer Supurasshu. "Bad choice, Pro Slayer, trying to stand up to me. I hate your kind more than I hate even demons," the Pyromaniac growls.

The Pyromaniac then aims his dual pistols at Supurasshu, firing off two flaming bullets towards the Slayer, who, in defense, swings her hand upwards, forming a wall of water between her and the Pyromaniac, extinguishing his flaming bullets.

"So they sent a water user to stop me, eh?" The Pyromaniac sneers. "Lucky me, I've been in the mood to test my strength against a Pro Slayer."

The Pyromaniac then aims his dial pistols and fires, his flaming bullets exploding against the ground and propelling him forwards at an impressive speed. While still flying towards Supurasshu, the Pyromaniac then brings his right hand up and flips his pistol around, using flame-exhaust to strengthen his attack, and aims another flaming punch towards Supurasshu, who counters by aiming both palms at the Pyromaniac.

"Hydrokinesis: Jet Stream!" Supurasshu shouts as she fires off two hoses of water out of her palms towards the Pyromaniac, extinguishing his flames and pushing the boy backwards.

"I've always hated water," the Pyromaniac grumbles as he shakes his wet mop of hair from side to side, attempting to dry himself.

"Ha! Blaming your Cursed Ability's weakness on your own pet peeves, typical," Surasshu retorts, as the civilians begin scattering away from the scene of the fight

"Alright, I'm tired of this," the Pyromaniac grunts as he aims his guns behind him, preparing for another speedy attack. The Pyromaniac then fires, using the force of his exploding bullets to propel himself towards Supurasshu.

"Hydrokinesis: Waterfall!" Supurasshu shouts as she raises a wall of water into the air to defend, but it was of no use.

She raised her water wall in defense, but it was of no use! The boy had inhuman reflexes and shot his bullets below him, rocketing into the air, then used the bullets to maneuver through the air, aiming punches at Slayer Supurasshu. The Pro Slayer just didn't have the skills to keep up. She brought up water wall after water wall, but didn't have the speed needed to block all of the fire user's attacks and had to take blow after blow, sending her flying.

"He's so strong…" Supurasshu grunts as she slowly pushes herself off of the ground. "Just who are you...boy?" 

"EHHH?!" The Pyromaniac cries. "What are you, a dumbass?! Why would I tell you my identity? All that you need to know is that I'm a Demon Hunter!" A crazy, gleeful expression glazes over the Pyromaniac's face. But the Pyromaniac doesn't seem to be looking at Supurasshu , but instead, passed her, not at something tangible but at the...future. "And that I'll burn every demon to ash!"

The Pyromaniac then aims his dual pistols forwards again, pressing them together. The Pyromaniac laughs, a psychotic laugh, as a great ball of fire forms between the barrel of his two guns, starting from the size of a baseball, and growing larger and larger, until the grand fireball stands three feet in diameter. "And everyone who stands in the way of that dream …WILL GET BURNT AS WELL!" The Pyromaniac roars as he shoots his fireball towards Supurasshu.

"Hydrokinesis: Waterfall!" Supurasshu shouts as she attempts to construct a wall of water in defense, which only serves to get evaporated by the intensity of the Pyromaniac's attack. Supurasshu yelps and brings her arms up to shield herself from the fireball, knowing that it's futile.

But that's when the Pyromaniac and Supurasshu hear the buzz of electricity ring through the air, as a yellow and black flash zooms by, picking up Slayer Supurasshu and then knocking away the fire ball. The yellow and black flash is -you guessed it- none other than Nick Boras, Slayer Hachi.

"EH?! And who the Hell are you now?!" The Pyromaniac cries.

"That's my line!" Nick replies. "Slayer Hachi, at your service."

"Woah, the Bumblebee saved me!" Supurasshu exclaims as she looks up to face Nick, who's still carrying her bridal style, sparkles in her eyes.

"So are you here to stop me too, Hachi?!" The Pyromaniac sneers.

"Nah, I was just in the neighborhood and heard all the comotion, figured I'd stop on by. Only took me a second to zoom over here. I heard that there was a rogue demon hunter running amok, causing havoc, so I figured that I'll leave it to my squad to stop you," Nick answers. Nick then places Supurasshu back down. "You should get out of here," he softly orders with a small smile.

"But…I was dispatched to stop the Pyromaniac," Supurasshu stammars. "Besides, if my water Cursed Ability can't stop the fire user, then no one can!"

Nick raises an eyebrow at Supurasshu, like a stern parent. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to? I'm no pushover."

Supurasshu shrugs, understanding what Nick means by that, then hustles away from the two.

"What, think you're too good to fight me yourself?!" The Pyromaniac snaps, sounding annoyed. "I'll burn you to a crisp too!"

The Pyromaniac aims his dual pistols at Nick, charging up another powerful fireball. But before the Pyromaniac can fire it at Nick, Nick's entire body begins crackling with electricity, before zooming over to the Pyromaniac. Nick knocks the fireball away with his bare hands, and then, in the blink of an eye, and faster than the Pyromaniac can react, Nick appears right before the Pyromaniac, aiming an electrified spear-hand at his throat. "Oh yeah. I'm kind of like the strongest one around here," Nick says with an awkward chuckle.

"N-not bad," the Pyromaniac stutters, clearly flustered. "Lighting, eh?" Nick retracts his spear-hand away from the Pyromaniac's throat, who drops down to one knee, his breathing ragged from the fear of death.

"You're pretty powerful, kid," Nick says.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks," the Pyromaniac sneers in response. "But flattery from the strongest Pro Slayer ain't gonna work on me!"

"I could use a sixth man in my squad, and you look to be about the same age as the others, how'd you feel about becoming a Pro Slayer?" Nick asks as he holds his hand out to the Pyromaniac. "Can't have any powerful Cursed Ability users like yeah running amok outside of the Slayer Organization's jurisdiction."

The Pyromaniac's eyes instantly gloss over. "I'D RATHER DIE THAN BECOME A DOG TO THAT FILTHY, USELESS ORGANIZATION!" He roars.

"Hmm…" Nick replies as he retracts his hand. "Well that's an issue, because if you don't join the Organization, I'll have to arrest you, and I don't like treating kids harshly." A lightbulb goes off over Nick's head. "Ah, I know! There's someone that I'd like you to meet, so stay here!" Nick says as his entire body begins crackling with electricity, before zooming away.

The Pyromaniac raises an eyebrow as he watches Nick run away.