Chapter 37: Bear Hands Boxing!!!

The bear demon charged at me, his massive paws swinging wildly. I ducked under his first swipe, feeling the rush of wind as it passed over my head. "Easy there, big guy. Don't want to pull a muscle."

Oliver watched from the side, his eyes gleaming with curiosity." Aim for the knees. It's always the knees."

"Got it, coach," I called back, sidestepping another swipe and delivering a swift kick to the demon's knee. He stumbled, growling in pain, but quickly regained his footing.

The bear demon roared again and lunged, his massive bulk making the floorboards creak under his weight. I dodged to the left, grabbed a nearby suitcase, and swung it at his head. The suitcase exploded on impact, scattering clothes and personal items everywhere.

"Sorry, for whoever that belonged to," Tucker said dodging another swipe. The bear was getting more and more frustrated, by this cat-and-mouse chase." Stay still stupid thing." The bear roared by I just continued to dodge.

Oliver chuckled, adjusting his hat. He took out, what seemed to be some metallic horned beatle, opening the window he let it go free outside before looking back to the fight.

The bear demon, now enraged, threw a wild punch that almost grazed my shoulder. I used the momentum to spin around and deliver a powerful kick to his back. He staggered forward, slamming into the wall with a thunderous crash.

"Had enough yet?" I taunted, keeping my guard up. The bear demon shook his head, trying to clear the stars from his vision.

Oliver, meanwhile, rummaged through his top hat and pulled out a small device. "Here, use this," he said, tossing it to me.

I caught it and examined it quickly. "What is it?"

"A mini taser. Just press the button and aim for his neck."

"Nice," I said, grinning. I waited for the bear demon to charge again, then dodged at the last second and pressed the taser to his neck. He convulsed violently, his muscles locking up as electricity coursed through his body. With a final roar, he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

I wiped the non-existent sweat from my brow and turned to Oliver. "That was fun. Got any more surprises in that hat of yours?"

Oliver smirked, adjusting his hat once more. "Plenty. But let's save them for later. We still need to get rid of those gangsters."

"Right," I said, nodding. "What's the next part of your plan?"

"We need to create a distraction to draw the gangs away from the passengers. Once we have them all in one place, we can deal with them more easily."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" I asked, intrigued.

Oliver's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Leave that to me. Just be ready to act when the time comes."

I nodded, trusting his judgment. "All right, let's get moving."

...

As Oliver and I got ready for the next move, I noticed something shiny sticking out of one of the bags that had been destroyed during the earlier fight. I picked it up, surprised to see different-sized orange-coloured crystals. There was a strong pulse of demonic and spacial energy radiating from them.

"What are these?" I muttered, examining the crystals. I can feel energy similar to my teleportation magic, but also quite different and a lot more potent.

Oliver, who was digging through his top hat for something, glanced over and his eyes widened. "Those are Asmodean crystals!" he exclaimed.

"Asmodean crystal? Like the deadly sin, these things have a lot of spacial energy."

"I can't believe you can actually feel the energy from them." Oliver was shocked, not even he as a noble could sense those types of energies yet.

"Yeah, they're practically buzzing. What are they?" I asked.

Oliver's eyes gleamed with excitement as he explained, "These crystals are used by Asmodeus's demons. They go to the living world to spread lust, fight wars, and other sinful deeds. You need permission from Asmodeus himself to go to the living world and be granted a crystal. Seeing as these were hidden away, they're most likely black-market crystals. Just one can go for millions of souls."

"Millions?" I echoed, eyeing the crystals. "So, basically, we're holding a small fortune."

"Exactly. And these getting into the hands of sinners is illegal. Anyone found with them without jurisdiction could face death or imprisonment," Oliver said, holding out his top hat. "I can keep them safe."

I handed him the crystals just as we heard rapid footsteps approaching. Oliver and I exchanged nods before five imps kicked the door open.

....

"Come out, come out wherever you are brat, we know you're in here." A loan shark said sniffing the air. His companions looked around cautiously, ready to shoot anything that moved.

They scanned the room but saw it was empty.

Suddenly, a shadow fell from the ceiling, and Tucker dropped down, knocking two imps out cold. The other two imps and loan shark opened fire, but he easily deflected each bullet with his boken.

"Come on, is that all you got?" I taunted, leaping into the next cart with Oliver on my back.

He waved goodbye to the confused demons before I assumed a sword stance and, with a swing of my sword I easily cut off the cart from the main train.

Slaaaash!!! Crack!!

The demons, furious, shot at us but missed.

"Nice cut, peasant?" Oliver said grinning, as he got ready to face the other demons after them.

Oliver's shark-like teeth gleamed as he grinned from ear to ear. More demons were approaching, and the real battle was about to begin.

...

"They're over here, sick em boys!!"

Bang!!Bang!!Bang!!Bang

As we moved through the train, Oliver started pulling out an assortment of gadgets from his top hat.

The first was a boxing glove on a spring, which he used to punch an imp square in the face. "Next up, Fishy!" he announced, brandishing a long, flopping swordfish that he used to slash at a demon's leg.

"Ahhhhhhhh my leg..."

"What the hell is that?!" the imp screamed, trying to fend off the wriggling fish.

Oliver grinned. "Just a little something I picked up at the fish market." He swung the fish again, sending the demon stumbling backwards.

Next, he pulled out a mailbox with the name "Dennis" on it and swung it at an oncoming demon. The impact sent the demon flying across the cart.

"Special delivery!" Oliver quipped, before pulling out a gun with five barrels and firing, the bullets ricocheting around the room and hitting three demons.

"Who even makes this stuff?" Tucker asked, dodging a flying imp.

"I do," Oliver replied with a smirk, absorbing more passengers into his hat to keep them safe. "I can only keep them in here temporarily, so we need to hurry."

"There you are you damn, fox stop running away and die like a man, so I can mount you on my wall." As we fought our way through the gangsters, we passed Sneak, who shot an angelic bullet at me.

Crack!!

I deflected it, but the impact chipped my sword. "Seriously? These things aren't cheap, you know!" I shouted, leaping up and using Sneak as a springboard to make my way to the upper train carts.

Sneak cursed and fired again, but I was already out of reach. "Get back here, you damn flea-infested fox!" he yelled, his face turning red with anger.

We reached the next cart, and Oliver let out all the passengers, who looked like they hadn't been able to breathe in the confined space. "Everyone, help us barricade the door!" I shouted.

Though the demons were confused, they quickly figured out the situation and started barricading the door, while the gangsters on the other hand shot, and barged the door with their shoulders.

"Get that fucking door open, you useless meat bags," Sneak screamed as he glared at the door, there was a small gap in the window and Oliver who was about to fill that gap grinned, and flipped him off.

...

We grabbed anything we could find—luggage, seats, even tables—to block the entrance.

One passenger, a nervous-looking imp, handed me a grenade. "Here, use this grenade!" he said.

"Thank you!!" Tucker thanked him, keeping the barricade sturdy.

We finished stacking everything against the door and stepped back, sighing in relief.

But then Oliver's eyes widened as he noticed the grenade.

"Wait...did you just say a gre—"

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

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