An artistic article of a fiery fight, part 4

In a split second, Shin accessed his options.

What did he have? A gun, a knife, and Tetsu.

What was the enemy? A Red Painting—a monstrosity created from bits and pieces of souls mixed with blood and dark magic, captured with oil and canvas and fueled by sacrifice and life energy. It could feel nothing but pain and wanted nothing but to spread it to others.

It was also inhumanly strong, despite being only two meters tall and fairly thin. Its movements weren't much faster than Shin's, but its long legs would make it very hard to outrun it.

The worst thing was that they were extremely durable. The Red Paintings had no vital organs—they had to be damaged with all you had until their life force just expired.

What did Shin need to do? Reach the secret storage, which was only a few doors away. He could lock himself inside there until the Red Painting left, or until Tetsu fed.

He transferred all that information to her with one large shove of thought.

"I get it," Tetsu said, smiling as she emerged from Shin's body again. Spikes covered her body, and two scythe-like blades protruded from her forearms. "If this is how it works, I will do it 'the hard way'! You can rely on me, boss."

As if the Red Painting understood this conversation, it lunged forward, slamming its fist at Tetsu's face. She caught it on the crossed scythes and planted her heels into the floor with a screech of metal on stone.

Shin felt the echo of Tetsu's pain on his forearms. He pulled out the knife and the gun, then removed the gun safety. But with Tetsu between him and the Red Painting in this narrow hallway, he couldn't even approach the enemy.

Tetsu growled.

"Take this!" she shouted, slashing with wild abandon. "Take this, this, this, thisthisthisthisthis!"

The Red Painting didn't even try to block her attacks—it barely noticed the gashes left in its dense flesh.

Instead, it raised both arms up, preparing a powerful downward swing.

"Tetsu!" Shin shouted, recalling her fight against the toilet slime.

Back then, she also was so focused on attacking that forgot all about defense. But this time, she looked less enraged.

Tetsu noticed the attack even before Shin did.

"Get the hell away from me!" she shouted, slashing at the Red Painting's legs and pushing him. "Fall!"

She was so sure of the success of her maneuver that when the monster just didn't do as expected, she paused.

"Fall, I said!" Tetsu pushed again. "You ugly piece of garbage!"

It didn't.

Any other enemy would've fallen on the ground from the loss of balance, but the Red Painting only wobbled slightly.

And Tetsu still stubbornly said in the harm's way.

Shin wasn't going to switch places with her this time.

"Tetsu, stop standing there!" he said, shoving himself between her and the wall.

There, with a clean line of sight, he lifted the gunpoint at the Red Painting's head and pressed the trigger.

The recoil was worse than he expected. His hand shot up, and the Red Painting stumbled back as well. Shin smiled slightly.

"Not so useless, I suppose. From this close, the stopping force is enough to give you a pause—"

The creature slammed its hands down, bringing its claws at Tetsu and Shin.

"Boss!" the demoness cried out, protecting him with her body in the last moment before the hit.

Then the bloody arms threw them to the floor. Despite Tetsu's efforts, Shin felt something crack inside of him when he hit the floor. He bit his lip and swallowed any sounds his body wanted to make.

Tetsu cried out. The enemy's claws left a deep bloody gash over chest, and her pain flared in Shin's soul.

She and Shin both ignored their injuries as they hurried to look up at the Red Painting.

Its blow left it out of balance. Something that Tetsu did worked, because it flailed its arms like a drunk, before stumbling and falling on its stomach.

The Red Painting immediately began to rise again, but Shin and Tetsu were on their feet faster.

Shin still had a gun in his hand, so he aimed it at the monster's leg and shot three times in quick succession—until he ran out of bullets.

Tetsu was right after him, jumping right at the creature's back to stab him with a spike coming out of her heel. "Take this!"

"No, Tetsu!" Shin shouted. "Get back here!"

He saw what she didn't pay attention to—the Red Painting was about to get up and smash her like a bug.

"No! I said that I will deal with this thing, so I will!"

Shin clenched his fists. "That's an order, Tetsu!"

She still kept ignoring him. It wasn't anger that fueled her now—it was pride and the strange need to be needed by him.

"I can't rely on you if you don't follow my orders, Tetsu."

The demoness froze. The next moment, she jumped off the Red Painting and entered Shin's body.

Not a moment too late—the creature stood on wobbly feet and began to turn.

Shin threw the gun at its face and ran down the hallway, towards his goal. Tetsu's strength made his steps faster, and Tetsu's wound burned his lungs as he breathed.

'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, my friend, my partner, my everything,' she muttered in his head. 'Please, please, keep needing me.'