The Swarm Of Iron (2/6)

The city where the killings took place was called Teioh, I guess whoever made these towns didn't much in the imagination department. It was some sort of sensational event that was happening that terrified the citizens of Teioh, a serial killer that already took the life of 47 people, with an augmentation of more than 100 missing cases. The 47 people dead were confirmed by recovering the bones left of their body, nothing else was found and the bones were clean as if someone scraped every bit of flesh from them. Even during a time where the police didn't have all the equipment necessary, there rarely was a case with that much murders. Some thought it was the act of a terrorist organization since one person doing such a job was unlikely, to say the least.

For someone aware of the supernatural, that kind of thing was easy for anyone that was also in the moonlit world. I didn't bother taking the last train to Teioh, Rias would be able to trace me if I did. I simply sprinted towards the city, using my recently levelled up Devil's charm to hide myself. The skill was much more versatile than I thought originally, it was more of a set of illusionary skills that were specific to the devil race, and hiding its appearance was one of them. Although at a low level, since it was a racial skill, it was more powerful than it would have been if I learned it as a human. With it I was able to hide my height, body frame and face with ease, appearing as an average middle-aged man instead. Too average could spell doom for me so I made a scar running from my eye to my chin appear on my new face.

I continued to pick up speed as I sprinted forward through the woods separating Kuoh and Teioh. There were about 20 kilometres between the two towns and although I would never dream of crossing that distance as a human, my new race allowed me to reach speeds close to 60 kilometres per hour, and my stamina made it so that I could continuously run at these sort of speeds for a long time.

The numerous obstacles in my way didn't bother me as I easily moved around them, wondering if I could get a parkour skill from this, or free running. As I was advancing towards my destination, something unusual picked my attention. I could sense something malevolent taking place somewhere in this forest. However, I couldn't pinpoint the location.

I stopped running after a bone-chilling feeling washed over my body. In response, instead of shivering in fear like all living beings would when exposed to an aura that seemingly overwhelms them, my blood began to boil in excitement as I couldn't help but raise the corners of my mouth. I decided on concentrating a bit on the feeling to know where I should be going. Rushing in without a plan was utterly stupid, at least when you had the luxury to create one. I realized over the past few months in fights that the bloodthirsty instincts didn't come from me per se, but from my body, and that although I seemed completely in charge in battles, more than once I felt as if my body moved by itself.

Even if it wasn't technically possible, I realized that it was as if my conscientiousness was overridden by my instincts, making it so some moves and so on were automatic. It wouldn't be a bad thing if it stopped there, as it was also technically what allowed me to raise my strength so rapidly, but the problem arose when it enticed me to go into fights without plans, or exposing my aura without my permission. Using more energy than necessary and being, in general, more violent. The feeling of boredom that I experienced when I wasn't fighting or teaching was becoming stronger and stronger until I realized what it was, my body not being used for what it did best made me feel bored and disappointed now.

It didn't feel like there were two personalities as I feared at first, it was like my conscientiousness, my mind was not used to the new instincts and the new wants of this body. So it repelled it automatically, creating this uncomfortable feeling because although the constant thirst for fights was annoying, it was not something I could erase now that I chose this body, it was something I could limit with discipline, but that would take time, and my mind automatically stopping it would not help. Surprisingly, the only domain where I had complete control of my body was concerning women. I did not feel a sudden surge in arousal or something like this, even if I was sure the hormonal secretions of my body were off the roof.

That could be one of the reasons why my Aura was not 'tainted' like the rest of my energies, simply because I still had the soul of a human. In the end, it seemed that fighting and adjusting to my new instincts was the only way to go forward.

I abruptly stopped my train of thoughts when I picked up something once more with my nose this time. I was smelling something like a dog, or a wolf more precisely. Immediately the thoughts of encountering something like a bloodthirsty werewolf popped up in my mind. One that was hungry enough to justify all the killings.

I discreetly moved towards the scent, as I wanted to have some sort of impression of my prey before engaging. I was not strong enough yet to simply walk in every situation in this world, so caution was important, even if the smell of whatever was hiding in this direction was not what my hair stand in the first place. It was powerful, but it was far from the feeling of dread I experienced when I entered this area.

The trees of the area seemed to become taller and taller, more numerous since the light of the descending sun seemed to not pass through the thick leaves anymore. Soon the moon would make its apparition, and I was not willing to fight a werewolf if my predictions were correct under the light of the moon, no matter what the boiling blood and bloodthirsty grin on my face told.

The smell became stronger and stronger, so I was able to realize that it was indeed the scent of a wolf and not a dog or other canines, although I wouldn't be able to explain how I knew that. The scent was also tinged with a sliver of magic, making my theory even more likely.

Rapidly enough I was greeted by the moderately imposing frame of a young man dressed in a butler attire. Standing at approximately 7 feet tall, and with a buff body that would put shame on the shoulder of human bodybuilders, he had shining yellow eyes with a larger pupil than a human normally would have. He seemed extremely young, no more than 20 years old, and since werewolves were not rewarded by a longer life expectancy than humans, he could very well be that age. Considering he was currently looked at my chest instead of into my eyes, I knew that he didn't see through my illusions. Although they were very powerful, the illusions of a devil were just that, illusions, they didn't change my actual height, nor do they modify my body in general.

He would have been pretty intimidating for the man I was currently posing as, but my body was significantly more terrifying than his, and him narrowing his eyes at my chest, trying to act dangerous was quite funny, and apparently, the grin on my face didn't please him. This would prove to be a good fight and seeing that there was nobody near us, I could let myself free a little bit.

" It seems that the prey does not know in what kind of danger he is... " said the butler, apparently deciding to mock me. I chuckled an action that didn't elicit any other response from him apart from jumping at me, claws taking over his human hands. I dispelled the illusion and dogged to the right the attack that would have injured me otherwise. " It seems that more importantly the dog is blind, and has picked a fight with its predator. " I answered grinning, as I kicked him in the chest.

He was propelled back by my attack, grunted a bit but took no visible damage. Good. I would have been disappointed if he was hurt by this tickle. " Insolent devil, you grew a couple of muscles and became a bit taller and you dare proclaim yourself as a predator. Let me remind you of your worst fears. " he said as he shredded his suit, and transformed into a werewolf, succeeding in towering over me as he was close to 8 feet tall now. What made me laugh was the fact that the way he spoke was not unlike the third rate villains you would see in video games.

He growled at me and launched himself forward. His speed had more than doubled, but it wasn't anything I couldn't take care of. Although he was faster than me, it wasn't overwhelming and even though he could seriously damage me with his bites and his claws, he had a weak constitution, shown by the fact that when I instinctively took the blow to put him in a precarious position, the punch fueled by the ardent purple ki destroyed his arm completely. It wasn't even a full-body punch, but while his claws had sunken into my shoulder, injuring me moderately, I destroyed one of his arms as he screamed in pain.

He was not without any battle experience altogether since he immediately decided to cut off the arm that was now stuck into my shoulder and retreated a bit, holding what was left in pain. I laughed darkly and took his arm off from my body. I felt the wound already starting to heal and I dashed towards the werewolf. The fool didn't know how to use ki, or he simply wasn't talented in it, but it didn't mean he was without magic. The moment I was nearing him, a magic circle appeared in front of him, engulfing me in yellow flames.

Too bad for him, flames were not exactly the best way to take me down. The moment his fire spell started, I used my Fire Manipulation and avoided collision with the burning mana while keeping it in front of him to blind him. It allowed me to close the distance as I grabbed his neck and started squeezing. He tried to tear through my head with his claws, but I dodged the slow attack that he launched in panic. In response, I hit his ribcage with all my strength and a good dose of ki, completely crushing his bones as bones got stuck inside his lungs. He attempted to kick my head and escape but while one arm held his neck tightly, I blocked the strike with my other hand. Even with my ki protecting my body, it hurt tremendously.

He tried to pierce through the arm locking him down but I blocked the movement before he could even think of it. Without any hesitation, I kneed his liver multiple times, preventing him from using his kicks and I continued to choke him. Since he couldn't move and couldn't use magic as he realized that fire would not hurt me, he bared his fangs at me and tried to growl as I was crushing his pipeline. Eventually, the life in his eyes disappeared, and he stopped struggling. I pierced through his neck to assure the kill, but I already knew that I had killed him.