[Hiera]: "A… talk?"
Her voice was monotone. Valen gulped, clenching his fists as he took a step toward her.
[Valen]: "First of all—what was that?! Your sibling knew you were here? Do all of them know that you're here? If so, then what's the point of gathering people here to help you? Wouldn't it be smarter to just get your siblings to help you? I don't get you at all…"
[Hiera]: "As I said before, I don't need any of their help. I'm fine on my own. All they would do is cause problems—this is a mission only I can accomplish,"
Hiera snapped back, a hint of raggedness creeping into her voice.
He bit his lip, sweating as he took another step closer.
[Valen]: "Okay, fine—so you don't need their help. But what did you mean about me not being the only one? Are there more people working under you?"
Hiera's lashes fluttered as her cold eyes locked onto Valen's.
[Hiera]: "Of course. Did you think you were the only one? When I take over the world, I want it to be smooth and quick. Right now, though, I have enough servants. So I won't be gathering any more, if that's what you're worried about."
Walking towards Valen, Hiera smiled gently.
[Hiera]: "You're the one with the most promise, out of all of them. So don't think you're any less than the rest, alright?"
Disgust.
That's all Valen felt at that moment.
Better than the rest? Who cared about that? He was only concerned with the fact that there were more people out there, suffering just like him. Forced to work under that demon, the thought made his skin crawl. Taking a deep breath, Valen gave Hiera a stern look.
[Valen]: "Let Marc live."
Hiera's eyes widened. Raising an eyebrow, she puckered her lips, one hand on her hip.
[Hiera]: "What do you plan on doing with the boy then?"
[Valen]: "Just let me talk to him—I can turn this around somehow. It's not necessary to kill him like that."
Hiera continued to stare at Valen for a few moments before sighing and closing her eyes. Turning around, she began to trot toward the forest.
[Valen]: "Oh yeah, and once this is all over, I want to meet them. Every single one of your 'servants.' You got that?"
She paused for a moment before continuing into the woods, eventually disappearing.
[---]: "Ugh… My head…"
Valen turned to his side to see Marc finally waking up. Everyone else in the park began to follow suit, sharing confused glances and chattering among themselves. Some were panicked, but they eventually calmed down when reunited with their families. Valen couldn't help but smile, seeing everyone safe and sound.
[Valen]: "So… about what you were saying earlier, you said something about Hiera not being herself?"
Marc's eyes immediately lit up, his mouth opening wide.
[Marc]: "Yeah—I was! Oh shoot, I completely forgot about that!"
Taking a nervous gulp, Valen braced himself for whatever Marc was about to say.
[Marc]: "The way Hiera's been acting recently, it's almost like… she's being influenced by some secret boy!"
Valen's earlier look of tension had immediately vanished, replaced by a look of dumbfoundedness that covered his entire face.
[Marc]: "I mean—think about it! There's no way she would've ever talked to you! And with the way she's speaking, she seems to have gained a lot more confidence! There must be some boy she's talking to now, making her do all these crazy things!"
Marc kept on with his mindless ramble.
[Marc]: "C'mon, Valen! You gotta help me figure out who's trying to take her heart! Please, man!"
Though Valen had already begun his walk to the parking lot.
'Hiera won't have to ever worry about him figuring out her secret—he's an idiot.'
Taking a deep sigh, he arrived at his destination to see two men interrogating his grandmother.
[Veria]: "So, I was just chillin' over here, minding my own business, when all of the sudden everything went black! It was only for a moment, but I could've sworn I heard something whispering to me…"
They were both about the same height—one with light orange hair and the other with dark hair. The first one had light orange hair and had two parallel scars running down his cheeks. His hair was neat and well-groomed, falling to neck length and brushing just past his ears. His skin tone was tan. He also had a beard that was starting to grow in.
The other, with dark hair, had a unique scar—a swirly mark that extended from his cheek to his eye. He wore his hair in a low ponytail, flopping over his left shoulder, and his skin tone was slightly pale. They both wore black suits that fitted them quite well.
The orange-haired one listened intently to Veria, while the other wrote down notes nervously. The dark-haired man appeared timid and frightened, in contrast to his partner, who was calm and collected.
The one listening closed his eyes, seemingly processing everything he had just heard. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers.
[Man 1]: "Hm. This is definitely the work of a devil."
Valen's heart dropped.
A devil? How did they know about that? Just who were these people?
As Valen stepped forward, his grandmother noticed him and immediately ran to his side.
[Veria]: "Are you okay, Valen? Something strange happened earlier. Thank goodness you're safe…"
She hugged him tightly, letting go a few moments later to look him in the eyes with a firm expression.
[Veria]: "These two young men here—they're devil exterminators."
Leaning in closer, she whispered in his ear,
[Veria]: "Though I'm not really sure whether to believe them or not… I mean, devils? Come on."
Leaning back, she cleared her throat and gave a half-hearted smile.
[Veria]: "Well, at least you're safe! That's all that matters to me."
Moments later, a scream erupted from the park. The two men immediately looked over and began rushing to the scene.
Veria and Valen ran over also to see everyone circling a little girl, who was twitching violently.
Valen could only stare in despair as he tried to piece together what was happening. Suddenly, the girl stopped and began to rise, as if frozen in place. Her eyes turned bloodshot, and she laughed maniacally.
[Little Girl]: "Ahahahaha! What an idiot that demon Artrecles is!"
Her voice echoed across the park. Her face had contorted into an insane expression, something that definitely didn't fit a child.
[Little Girl]: "One of the Seven Deadly Sins making an appearance is no small thing! The sheer amount of energy he produced just by his presence—it led me all the way here! Now that I finally have a host, I can begin feasting and become powerful!"
Throwing her arms in the air, she continued to laugh.
[Little Girl]: "Artrecles—the idiot you are! This is the beginning of my story! Where I take your throne!"
Tons of creatures began to emerge from the forest, appearing as deformed animals.
[Little Girl]: "Minions, gather all of the children that are here! Make sure they're still alive, so their meat is tender and juicy."
[---]: "Hm. So that's why I kept smelling a demon scent…"
The girl's eyes widened as she turned to see the orange-haired guy inspecting her.
[Little Girl]: "And who do you think you are?!"
She shouted fiercely, spit flying through the air. As she began to raise her arm to slash at him, she was suddenly grabbed by the neck from behind. The young man moved so quickly that the devil couldn't even process what was happening. With a swift motion, he knocked her legs out from under her, and she tumbled to the ground as he grabbed both of her arms and pinned her down.
People around gasped, shocked at how roughly he handled the little girl. Taking a deep breath, he began to dig into his pockets for something. Pulling out a small bottle, he took off the top and poured its contents onto the girl. She cried out in pain, struggling against him, but his overwhelming strength made it impossible to escape. After a few agonizing seconds of screaming, a creature that resembled a bug wriggled out of her mouth as her eyes rolled back.
[Man 1]: "Milo—could you get that for me?"
The creature screeched before it was abruptly stomped on, its insides splattering everywhere. The dark-haired man inspected his shoes, making a disgusted face, his face full of sweat.
[Milo]: "Euugghhh!"
Milo screeched, wiping his shoes on a nearby curb. Upon the death of the creature, all the animals brought from the forest collapsed, seemingly falling unconscious.
The orange-haired man released the girl, and she woke up shortly after.
[Man 1]: "Everything should be good now. That was an Impra. It hadn't fused with her body yet, so it was fairly easy to drive it out."
One of the little girl's family members stepped forward.
[---]: "W-what is your name, sir!? We want to show our gratitude."
[Man 1]: "My name…?"
The orange-haired man looked up thoughtfully. After taking another deep breath, he looked back at the family.
[Man 1]: "It's Ellis."
The crowd cheered as they all thanked the two young men.
Ellis and Milo—that's what their names were. They seemed to know quite a bit about demons, even though they were just humans. This made Valen feel uneasy.
[Ellis]: "It's getting quite late; you all should be heading home now. Haven't you heard? Devils appear more frequently at night. It isn't safe out here."
Ellis said, his voice stern and serious. All of the people nodded and began to evacuate from the park.
Valen glanced over at his grandma and saw that her eyes were wide open.
[Veria]: "Huh. So I guess they weren't lying after all. Well, let's get home then. I don't want to stumble across any more of those bad boys."
Veria turned around and began strolling toward her car.
[Veria]: "Hey, they'll probably even cancel school over this! Isn't that nice, Valen?"
Valen was bewildered by how calm she was about everything. Though, to be fair, she had never really lost her cool; there were very few moments when she actually did. He let out a sigh, smiling slightly as he made his way to the car as well.
After successfully getting all of the Impra guts off of his shoes, Milo walked over to Ellis, who was staring at the Impra's corpse.
[Ellis]: "It's strange, isn't it? All of these devils are popping up out of nowhere. It certainly has gotten worse compared to a few months ago. More and more people are starting to notice, too, which isn't good at all. Soon, we may even have to inform the public about this."
Milo stared at the corpse for a few moments before shifting his gaze to Ellis.
[Milo]: "My d-devil was telling me that there were still some lurking. Well, specifically two. A Coalesce and a Sin."
Ellis's eyes widened, his face filled with shock.
[Ellis]: "Coalesce and Sin!? Wait—so one of those 'humans' must have been hiding! And a Sin? I thought it had already left, based on what that impra was saying…"
[Milo]: "I think there were two of them; one left while the other stayed, hiding somewhere. There were scents of two Sins around here."
Ellis rubbed his chin, then stood up and began looking around.
[Ellis]: "Well, is it still here!?"
A moment of silence passed.
[Milo]: "N-no. It seemed to leave when all the people had gone."
[Ellis]: "Can we follow its scent? What if it went after one of the families!?"
[Milo]: "It went deeper into the f-forest, far away from everyone. So, it couldn't h-have gone after them. And even if we tried to catch up, we wouldn't be able to. It's way too f-fast..."
Ellis scoffed as he put his hands in his pockets.
[Ellis]: "Well, we're done here then. Let's go." Milo nodded, and they began to walk off. The corpse disintegrated only a few moments after.
***
[Valen]: "Hiera hasn't been answering any of my texts. Is she mad at me?"
Valen wondered, tossing around in his sheets. Subsequently, he heard a few knocks on his window.
After what happened last night, Valen would've been foolish to go up there unprepared. In a fighting stance, he slowly opened the window.
Left—nothing.
Down—nothing.
Right—nothing.
Up—
Valen squinted his eyes, trying to figure out if what he was seeing was actually real.
Hiera sat on the roof, looking down at Valen. She waved and smiled softly when he finally noticed her.
[Valen]: "What… are you doing up there?"
Standing up, she stretched for a few moments before looking back down.
[Hiera]: "You want to go meet the others who work with me, right?"
Valen nodded immediately, and she pointed towards the ground.
[Hiera]: "Jump."
Looking to the ground, and looking back up, Valen made a confused face.
[Valen]: "Sorry—you said what? You want me to jump down there?"
His voice wavered as he spoke, eyes darting from the ground to Hiera and back again.
Hiera nodded, and Valen looked back down before closing his eyes and leaping out the window, foot first.
[Valen]: "I trust you way too much, Hiera—"
The stomach-dropping feeling immediately went away as he felt someone holding him, like a baby. Opening his eyes, he saw Hiera holding him. They were on top of a tree, just outside of Valen's window.
[Hiera]: "Are you okay?"
Her gaze lingered on him. The moonlight caught her eyes in a way that made them even more striking than usual.
Valen nodded quickly, embarrassed by how she was holding him. Her smile revealed those perfect teeth again.
[Hiera]: "If it gets too scary, then close your eyes. Alright?"
Before Valen could even respond, Hiera had already launched them through the darkness, moving with impossible speed. Valen's eyes snapped shut immediately, terror coursing through him. Even with all the chaos around him, being in Hiera's arms made him feel safe.
[Hiera]: "You can open your eyes now. We're here."
It felt like barely any time had passed—maybe thirty seconds at most. When Valen opened his eyes, he found himself staring at the entrance of a large cave. Glancing around, he realized they were deep in the middle of a forest. There was no trace of civilization—just trees, undergrowth, and the untouched wild all around them.
[Valen]: "Uh—what is this?"
Hiera kept her eyes on the cave as she spoke.
[Hiera]: "This is where we'll all meet from now on—kind of like our headquarters."
She looked down at Valen and gave him a gentle smile.
[Hiera]: "Ready to meet your new friends?"
Valen nodded, though his smile was a little shaky. Hiera giggled softly and led the way inside. At first, the cave swallowed them in darkness. But after a few steps, bright lights flickered on, making Valen squint until his eyes adjusted.
When he could finally see, Valen realized there were more people than he expected—at least five, maybe even ten, standing in a loose group ahead. Their faces were a mix of curious and friendly, and for a moment, Valen just stared, taking it all in.
Suddenly, a girl burst out laughing.
[---]: "PFFFT-HAHAHAHAHA!"
She gasped, wiping tears from her eyes as she slapped her knees. Under the spotlights, her grey hair gleamed, and her pigtails bounced with each burst of laughter.
[---]: "Why is he just sitting there in her arms like that?! Okay—that is DEFINITELY the funniest one I've seen so far! This one takes the cake!"
Ah, that's right.
Valen suddenly remembered—he was still being held by Hiera, cradled like a baby.
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"Body-Snatcher" Arc // End