Chapter 283: The Lurking Menace
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Within the dark depths of Fortress City’s underground sewers, there were large ruins of old houses where the new city was built over. In these dark places below the watchful eye of Hunters and the Military, all matters of criminals gathered from all backgrounds.
Sometimes to illegally sell materials, equipment, drugs, and potions. Most of the time though, to brawl and fight in large underground arenas for money. However, this time was different; several leaders of criminal organizations had gathered together.
The Crimson Wasps, the remaining live members of the Uroboros Cult, which had renamed themselves after learning their Archdemon patron had died.
Several Italian-American Maffia Groups, mostly led by the strongest criminals that had awakened in the city, lived right beneath the hunters above, hiding and trying to be as undetectable as possible.
And lastly, several street gangs that had been popping up lately, of rebellious hunters that didn’t want to abide by the government rules, somewhat inspired by the terrorist attacks of the “Dawn of a New World.”.
Compared to the strongest Hunters of the city, these people were nothing, but whenever they weren’t around, they were real threats.
And right now they gathered together for an incredible, unique occasion.
An alliance.
Why would criminals ever make an alliance to begin with?
Each one cares about their own lives and their own ambitions.
Their gangs exist for a reason; they have companions between one another.
But to join a completely different gang out of nowhere? That was always bound to generate conflicts.
Unless there was someone strong enough to command and force them all to gather anyway.
Someone that went out of their way to defeat each Leader and put into them terrible curses, forcing them to gather here…
Or die.
“We’re here… Who issss calling ussss…?”
The first group to arrive in the sewers were the former cultists of Uroboros, wearing their black cloaks and whose hands were covered on scales.
After Uroboros died, his powers also died off, and the remaining demonic energy ended mutating their bodies, leaving them permanently as mutated snake-like freaks with no way of going back.
Therefore, they were forced to leave their second lives as normal citizens or hunters and escape to live in the sewers.
Despite their hideous forms, they were incredibly strong, a sizable asset.
“Those things, hey boss, aren’t they?”
“…Uroboros Cultists, hm?”
“Why have those freaks been called here?!”
The second group to arrive was the mafia family known as “La Cosa Nostra”, perhaps one of the last surviving branches of Italian mafia after the First Awakening began, mostly composed of awakened members that survived the cataclysm and took refuge in cities.
They wore fancy black suits and black fedoras, mostly, and carried guns and weapons with them without impunity; most of them were unregistered awakened too, completely invisible to the government.
“Tch, to the left a bunch of freaks, and to the right the fucking Italian mafia?!”
“Holy shit! Like the movies!”
“Big bro, are we in the big leagues now?!”
Lastly, the army of street gangs, mostly composed of young, awakened men and women, street thugs with little experience in true crime, had begun delving into it by selling drugs and other illegal products while defending their territories from other gangs.
All three groups stood surrounding a single man, whose entire body was covered with a black cloak. Yet one could notice there was some white hair hanging down from below his hood.
And then his bright red eyes shone, sending a creepy vibe to everyone present.
“You’re here… So you’ve come, just as I called… I am surprised; despite being the worst of the worst, all of you kept your word,” the man spoke with the voice of someone who hasn’t drank water for a whole week. “I’m surprised… Very surprised…”
The three groups were already hitting their limit.
“You fucking bastard! It’s not like we had any choice!” roared a blonde man with tanned brown skin, covered in tattoos, and holding a huge bat with sharp nails attached to it, wearing mostly sport clothes. “You just came out of nowhere, beat all my men, and cursed me!”
“Ssso it was the sssame for you too, hmmm?”
The leader of the mutated cultists also groaned in dissatisfaction; his sharp claws ready to fight at any moment; the rest of his pack were the same.
“You will take away the curse you put on our boss; you freak!”
“We’ve brought some holy artifacts, so you’re finished, sorcerer.”
The mafia thugs roared as their boss remained in silence and then stepped back, revealing his appearance.
A man as tall as two meters and a bit higher, big, and strong, yet not that muscular either, with a huge belly and a bald head, wearing a white suit, his sharp crimson eyes glared at the man in front of him.
“You’re surrounded from every single flank; you either die right now or take out the curses, and then we can see how we let you live,” he said. “But it won’t be with all your limbs intact, oh no.”
The man wearing the hoodie smiled, laughing.
“Hahaha… You humans… are so amusing,” he laughed. “Don’t you realize? I called you here because I wanted more food. Nobody is going to miss trash like you, right? The authorities won’t go out of their way to find you and then find me, right?!”
“Wha…?”
Suddenly, the leader of the street thugs noticed an awful, putrid smell.
Bbbzzz…
And the sound of flies flying around, he glanced into the faintly illuminated ceiling by a small, old light, noticing…
Hundreds, if not thousands, of flies flying everywhere.
The sound of the flapping of their wings quickly became so loud everyone could hear it.
BBBZZZTTTT!
“What do you mean with food, you… UNGH?!”
CRASH!
Before the leader of the cultists could speak a single word, a black spear emerged from the hooded man’s hand, one made of pure black essence, piercing its heart.
“Delicious, the remnants of Uroboros demonic energy… not a bad meal.”
“W-What are you- AAGH!”
The other cultists were too slow to react; before they could do anything, their leader’s heart was crushed and shattered, made of crystalized miasma and demonic energy.
At the same time, the spear of darkness shapeshifted as it combined with thousands of flies, becoming countless tentacles with giant insectoid jaws, devouring the man within seconds.
“Shit! He’s a monster?! FUCK HIM!”
The mafia boss panicked, pointing his gun at the monstrosity and firing several rounds of magically enhanced bullets with holy water and made of holy silver, specifically made to kill Undead or Demonic Sorcerers. The rest of his group followed, making the bastard in front of them eat as much lead as they could give him.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Hundreds of bullets covered the man’s entire body, as his cloak and clothes were quickly reduced to ashes, revealing the rest of his body and a protective layer of darkness and demonic energy covering him.
His face looked rotten, resembling that of a once youthful white-haired man; his lanky body was long dead, but it had become the vessel for something, or someone…
“Holy bullets, you said?” The undead laughed. “Why don’t you take them back?”
His shadows suddenly twisted, revealing that all the bullets fired at him were mostly absorbed by the veil of darkness, being rapidly fired back at the mafia thugs.
“W-Wha…?!”
Within seconds, most of their members were covered with holes, falling into the floor and filling it with blood… Their boss remained alive somehow; even as he vomited blood, his stomach and lungs pierced several times.
“Y-You damn… monster…! BURN IN HELL!”
With a furious roar, the man pulled out an artifact from his pocket—a pyramid-shaped item made of black steel with a red jewel on top.
It was an explosive artifact that was made to deal with monsters inside of dungeons…
Yet before he could activate it, a tentacle of shadows engulfed it, and it disappeared.
“…Huh?”
“Did you think it would be that easy?”
SLASH!
The tentacle turned into a blade, beheading the man, a fountain of blood coming out of its sliced neck, covering the surroundings with a fresh pool of warm blood.
BBBZZZTTT!
The countless flies devoured everything, growing in numbers and size, gathering back inside the man’s body as he quickly moved towards his next prey.
The street thugs that had run away.
One after another, he picked them one like snacks, devouring them, absorbing their souls, flesh, bones, blood, mana, everything.
“Crunch, crunch… Gulp…”
The undead vessel groaned as it felt full; it was beginning to twist, and suddenly its chest was broken open as a pair of black arms emerged, tearing through the rotten corpse that was once his vessel.
“Hahh… Hahahah… I did it…”
His body slowly crawled out of the rotten corpse, as his flies didn’t waste it, eating it as well and then fusing back into his body.
A tall man with gray black skin, covered on insectoid exoskeleton armor, sharp, pointy horns, and several bug-like eyes on his face, alongside many bug-like arms.
“I’ve managed to do it… I’ve truly manifested fully!” he laughed, his laughter echoing across the sewers. “Oh, human souls always do the trick! That stupid of Heisenberg; did he really think he would get to use me so easily?! In that very last moment, I took all he had with me! I barely managed to survive, eating trash and rotten corpses… His stupid, diligent servant served as a good vessel too! Yes, Shade was his name? Whatever! It doesn’t matter! I need to kill that brat! I need to kill her quickly! Before she ruins all my plans again!”
He kept talking to his own flies, the giant insects nodding as they heard their insane, demonic boss speak. They were good listeners, but not good talkers.
“What do you think? Should I kill her right now?!”
He glared at his flies, which had grown to monstrous sizes of two meters; although not all of them were like this, only the “Elites” he chose as his servants, which he imbued with the powers of the criminals he just ate.
“Bbzzz…”
One of them made a cute little sound by waving its wings; the rest also followed. The demon remained in silence; his face full of euphoria slowly calmed down.
“You know what, you’re right… I shouldn’t approach her yet…” he said, rubbing his chin. “I need more power… But where can I get more? If I get out of here, one of those hunters will definitely find me! I am confident I can kill them, but once that girl’s brother shows up… I’ll die.”
He had grown stronger compared to before, but since that man took his demonic energy and heroic souls to turn into a Demon King, he had to start from zero again.
Yet he even managed to create a new physical vessel, a stronger one than before too, that wasn’t attached to any human at that!
“I could sweep this area clean of criminals and whatever lowlife lives here, yet it won’t be enough for me…” He sighed, sitting over the floor as he started eating the head of a thug. “I need a plan, or some… Sponsor?”
His crimson, insectoid eyes widened as he saw crimson letters materialize in front of him.
A Constellation was using the Apocalypse Interface to contact him.
[The Demonic Throne {The Greed That Consumes Everything} wonders how you’ve been doing lately.]
[He says he’s rather pleased to see you making a third comeback! What a brilliant fighting spirit!]
“Mammon?! You bastard, have you come to mock me?! Leave me alone!”
[The Demonic Throne {The Greed That Consumes Everything} sighs, rather saddened.]
[He thought he could convince you to work with him on something.]
[Something big.]
“Hm? What are you planning?” The demon smiled. “Wait, no! I am not working for you, you greedy bastard! Last time I did, you only paid me half of my salary!”
[The Demonic Throne {The Greed That Consumes Everything} says he’s working for someone now.]
[And he says they’re inviting you to something big that’s going to happen.]
[It involves that detestable little girl you hate so much, which also messed with his plans.]
“Oh? A common enemy, huh? Go on, elaborate.”
[The Demonic Throne {The Greed That Consumes Everything} says their sponsor is here.]
[He tells you to say hi!]
“Wha…? UNGH?!”
RUMBLE!
And then a new message appeared in front of the demon.
One that seemed almost glitched, due to the tremendous pressure of this being’s gaze upon him.
The demon felt completely paralyzed due to its sheer magnitude.
[The {Universal Computer} gazes at you, calculating your response.]
“T-This is…?!” The demon muttered. “A Void Ruler?! But I’ve never heard of this… Title before!”
[The {Universal Computer} prediction rate remains at 99.9% accuracy. However, success is a different calculation altogether. Therefore, your assistance is required.]
[They ask you to work for them. A source of chaos such as you is a rather precious asset that could increase its chances of success by a minimum of 30%.]
“Do I even have an option at this point?”
[The Demonic Throne {The Greed That Consumes Everything} laughs.]
[“No, you don’t, Beelzebub.”]
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