(Experimental rough draft)
The city was a wreck, buildings destroyed, bodies of innocents lying on the street being consumed by demons. The clouds were dark and swallowed the sky, leaving only red demonic light consuming the streets. And on the streets walked him, the Devil Hunter, Arthur.
Arthur had already been through this over and over again—demons causing destruction, bodies riddled everywhere—and he's grown tired of it. A once ambitious hunter running around sword in hand is now lugging around with it strapped to his back, hanging lazily as he walks the streets of the city.
His hair covered his face; he was too tired and didn't care to move it, and he dragged his feet, only picking them up to step over corpses.
But then he heard it, the faintest groan, a groan that he could instantly recognize. It's a demon.
He put his hand on the hilt of his sword, fingers slowly wrapping around the handle one by one, and he drew with one swift movement, creating a quick gust of wind. The demon perked up, its grotesque face covered in blood, hiding behind a car, peeking over at Arthur. It had just been feasting on a corpse, likely its fifth one today.
It looks at Arthur, like it's examining him. Usually, it would attack without hesitation when seeing a human, but Arthur seems different, almost puzzling it, confusing it. But then it shot up and roared at Arthur. Arthur didn't flinch, let alone change expression; he took slow steps forward as the demon climbed on top of the car and made its way to Arthur.
It jumps, soaring through the air like a missile, heading straight for Arthur with his bloody mouth agape, its teeth protruding outward. And Arthur still doesn't move; instead, he waits until it gets close, and at the last second, when the demon's teeth are a mere 2 feet away from his face, he strikes, lifting his sword up and striking it down with speed the demon could have never expected. Boom, a gust of wind blew in every direction like a shockwave, and the demon was blown apart into two pieces.
And there stood Arthur, still with his stone-cold expression, and he sheathed his sword with the same swiftness he drew it and kept pushing forward. It was just another demon killed by his blade.
Arthur stops in his tracks for a moment and looks up at the dark clouds covering the sky. He flips his hair to the side and lets out a deep sigh, one he's been holding in for a while, one that's been weighing down his lungs. "What am I doing here?..." He says, somberly, he keeps still, just for a little more, maybe to rest, as he stares at what's above him as if the sky will give him answers. The screams echoing through the city don't bother him, the bodies around him don't live in his mind, and he just stares at the clouds, pondering.
"Where the hell is Joseph?" He says in the same tone as before, low, calm, maybe even uncaring to what the answer is, but he asks nonetheless; he exhales through his nose, keeps his head straight, and pushes forward, dragging his legs once more.
2 hours pass of constant fights, Arthur's sword is starting to get permanently soaked in blood, and so are his clothes. He quickly jumps back twice as the demon's fist slams down on the ground. It's a bigger demon, 5 times as big and stronger than the others, and more aggressive than the others as well.
A smirk grows on Arthur's face, though it's more than not humorless, and he looks up at the roaring demon as the lesser ones acting as its minions surround it like a shield.
"Come on, you big fuck." Arthur lets out an airy chuckle, and as commanded, the demon attacks, once again roaring as it charges forward like an angry gorilla defending its family. Its fists pound into the ground, cracking the concrete, and it swings in a wide motion, but Arthur is gone in a flash. For a second, the monster looks confused, but it has no time to think. Because just as quick as Arthur dodged, his sword plunges into the demon's side. It let out its third roar, but this one came from the heart. The ground shook as it cried out in pain, flailing its arms about, only making its injury worse, and Arthur wasn't letting go. he keeps the sword deep in the demon's side, moving with the demon as it flailed around like a child throwing a tantrum, all with a smile on his face, watching as the bottom empty sphere ingrained into the side of his sword got pooled by bright red liquid.
"That was a big one." He cackles and rips the sword out. Finally, the creature gets its bearings and slams its fists down on the ground. The ground breaks around its fists, and its jaw clenches. It gets ready to attack but pauses like it's finally trying to calculate, and Arthur lays his bloodied sword on his shoulder and takes a few, slow, casual steps back, like he knows without a doubt that the demon can't do anything, no matter if it does start using its brain to attack.
His usual cocky smirk from his early youth is plastered on his face. Now, he's starting to have a little fun, just a little bit; only a little bit of that young hunter is coming back in him.
The lesser demons stand back, and Arthur has a stare-down with the giant demon, like a matador facing a bull.
A manic smile grows on Arthur's face—then woosh, wind blows as they move, their forms blurring with their speed, and then they clash, Arthur swings his sword down, and
They both pause; Arthur has the tip of his sword to the ground, the demon has its fist raised, the lesser demons don't move, and everything is... Frozen.
And then the demon's arm slices open, splitting clean open; it shrieks in pain, that roar now replaced by true pain and fear, a human scream. Purple blood is spilled onto the concrete, staining it.
It tries to hold its arm together, maybe hoping it'll glue back together, but it just flops around uselessly, like a deflated balloon.
Arthur jumps high, the force cracking the concrete beneath him, and he swings his sword one last time, aiming for the shrieking demon's head, and then a clean hit cuts off half of its head, leaving only its open mouth still in shock, with blood pouring out of it like some kind of twisted fountain. Arthur falls down and lands with a groan, bending his knees. The other demons stare, flinching backwards. Arthur just rolls his shoulders and smirks. The giant lies sitting up with half its head; the other half flopped down in front of the lesser demons, its eyes are still wide, staring at the demons.
He stands there in front of the demons with his eyebrows raised as he paces in front of them with his sword resting on his shoulder. They stare each other down. And then one lunges forward, and without further hesitation, Arthur throws his sword; it spins like a Frisbee to the line of demons, and it cuts right through them, leaving a line of chopped-up demon corpses.
Annabelle floats in the air, still spinning. "Come back, Annabelle," Arthur softly says, holding his hand out. Annabelle glows orange and spins back to his hand, smoothly landing back in his clutches. He lifts the blade up to his face; his face reflects softly on the surface, showing his smirk. "Good girl." He puts her down, stabbing the tip into the ground.
He leans on the blade and sighs deeply, looking around at the scenery, not amused anymore. "Man... I'm gettin' nowhere." The city was big, filled with demons; whatever Arthur wanted, it was going to take some time and a lot of demon kills. For the moment, however, Arthur twists the blade in the ground, playing with it as he ponders.
And then another demon appears, just scrolling about, its head twisting and switching around searching for food, and it spots Arthur. Arthur looks up and just rolls his eyes. He lazily sits up, straightens his posture, but before he could even take one step, the demon dissolves into black goo before him, as if it melted like ice cream on a sunny day. Arthur narrows his eyes, and for the first time here, he's actually surprised.
"Joseph?..." His voice is low, almost a whisper, as he takes steps forward, warily and slowly, like he's in a horror movie. From the shadows, a man appears; he has long black hair, too long, reaching his knees, but it's lustrous, beautiful even, and it shines even though the man is shrouded in darkness. He puts his hands in his worn dark cloak and turns his head to Arthur; his eyes are dead and emotionless, and he looks like Arthur—same face, height, just older—and colder.
Arthur's posture straightens, and he lets out a quick, humorless scoff. "Joseph! Where the *hell* you been?!" Arthur opens his arms and calls out to Joseph, who only saunters into the light, not acknowledging Arthur's frustration. He takes slow, calm steps, while Arthur stomps toward him.
"Fighting," Joseph says plainly, finally meeting Arthur's gaze with his deep, dead black eyes.
"Yeah!" Arthur's arms flop down to his side, and he leans into Joseph's face. "Where?"
He gestures wildly to the scene around him. "I've been fighting demons for the past 2 hours, walking in this wreck of a city, not knowing where the hell I'm going—so would you so graciously tell me why I'm doing this?"
Arthur puts his face mere inches in front of Joseph. Joseph, however, doesn't budge and keeps his same dead, flat expression, and he holds out his hand. Arthur steps back a bit and looks down.
Joseph holds a red, floating, glowing orb in his hand. There are particles that orbit it, smaller, crushed orbs, it seems like. Its appearance looks out of place for the scenery, a pretty bright orb in the midst of a dying city.
"This," Joseph opens his mouth, his words slow and deliberate as if choosing his words wisely, "is a spirit. One of ten in this city." Joseph's eyes lock onto Arthur's, dead serious; however, Arthur's skeptical, annoyed expression doesn't change, and he shakes his head softly. "I've seen a lot of spirits, Joseph—"
"This," Joseph's voice cuts in sharply, "This one is different... It controls this city; this is the power here—this is what you are fighting for, dear little brother."
"Joseph... I've fought a lotta demons, alright? And a lot of them destroy and control cities—but I've never heard of a spirit that controls a city—are you sure, brother?"
Silence hangs between them for a moment. "Yes, I am sure; this tiny spirit, along with 9 others, control this city and creates demons, They are the reason for the red light, the red roots, and the chaos that befell here... I found this out when I captured this one back at sector one of the city; when I did, the demons turned to ash around me, and the sky cleared. I am positive."
Arthur lets out a loud breath through his nose and looks down at the glowing orb. He picks it up gently and puts it to his face. "All these years, even though we never talk, you've never lied to me, so I trust you–" He gestures the orb in Joseph's face and tilts his head slightly; his voice is soft but stern, but with a sincere edge at the same time. "But I gotta tell ya, Joey—I don't wanna be here. Sure, I still get a smirk and maybe a laugh killing demons—but I'm tired."
Joseph doesn't respond and just takes a step forward, pausing on Arthur's side. Arthur's voice drops even lower. "Been so ever since that demon kicked my ass that one time."
Joseph listens, but he doesn't react—no sympathy, no comfort, only his same cold voice: "You have to fail to succeed, brother." Joseph and Arthur's eyes lock one last time, looking at each other from their peripheral vision quietly, and then Joseph walks past Arthur, his body disappears, transforming into shadows, vanishing, leaving Arthur there, with the orb still between his fingers, glowing softly.
Arthur sighs again; this one feels heavier—more weight was added to it, more responsibility.
He stares down at the orb. He can feel irritation growing inside him just from the sight of it. "A little thing like this... killed thousands?" The phrase repeats in his head, bouncing around in the storm that was already brewing in his head. The orb lies between his index finger and his thumb. He rolls it around, and he crushes it; shards fly and float in the air before dispersing. Arthur rubs his fingers with a scornful scoff.
"Fuckin' Demons"
Chapter one, End