Author's warning: Once again I want to remind you about the presence of violence in this story.
After the unexpected visit of the surviving nekomata and half-demon, the head of Kyoto was in a foul mood. Unknown people had attacked and destroyed the yokai settlement that was under her protection. And if she had not met the escaped sisters, she would not have been able to find out the identity of the attackers. Now she was going to free the captured and punish the culprits for everything. To do this, Yasaka contacted the goddess Amaterasu.
When the news of what happened reached the Shinto gods, they were furious. The supreme sun goddess, accompanied by her brother and sister, immediately went to the underworld to meet with the demon lords. Hell was accused of destroying the yokai settlement and capturing its inhabitants. As evidence, the corpse of a Naberius servant was presented, whose body Yasaka's servants were able to find in the place indicated by Kiyoshi. A scandal erupted, ready to escalate into a war between the factions.
During the search of the Naberius clan's holdings, the previously kidnapped yokai were found and released. The demons who had conducted their experiments were handed over to Kyoto, where they were executed. In addition to the guilty parties, the Demon Lords had to hand over most of their territories in Japan back to the Shinto Gods. After these concessions, the conflict was settled, but relations between the factions became strained.
While the world was in turmoil, Kiyoshi was settling into his new place. The teenager was housed in a small one-room apartment. His new home had the bare minimum for comfortable living, which the boy was very happy about.
The next day, Zankoku got acquainted with his new place of work. Hyakki Yako or the parade of a hundred demons — this was the symbolic name of this group. The leader of the yakuza was Satoshi Nishimuro — a man in his fifties. Satoshi was a man, but he knew about the existence of the supernatural world and the real master of the city. As long as he followed the rules and was useful, he was allowed to do his job.
When Kiyoshi was introduced to the head of Hyakki Yako, he only glanced at him and sent his new subordinate to do small errands. The teenager expected such treatment, so he simply followed the instructions of his commander. In order to stop playing the role of an extra, Zankoku needs to prove his skills and get a promotion.
In addition to his activities in the clan, the blonde also studied magic in his free time. Yasaka provided the teenager with teachers who explained to him the realities of the other world. The guy learned a lot about various mythologies, gods, angels, fallen ones and directly about the demons, to which he belongs. The contract with the devil turned out to be more real than Kiyoshi had previously thought. With its help, the demon received energy that contributes to the development of strength. For Zankoku, this was a new experience of concluding contracts with people in exchange for their requests.
Unnoticed by the teenager, two months passed. During this time, he was able to get the basics of magic and advance in the clan. Now Kiyoshi is not a simple errand boy. The boss gave him a task as a test, if he completes the task, he will prove his competence. Scrolling through the details of the mission in his head, the teenager went to a cafe in the mystical district of Kyoto.
As soon as he entered the establishment, someone waved to him from one of the tables. The blond immediately went to his acquaintance.
— You're late, nya! — as soon as the guy sat down at the table, he heard accusations against him.
— Sorry, Kuroka. I was a little late at headquarters, preparing for the trip.
The dark-haired nekoshou sat opposite the teenager with a pouting lips and an offended look.
— Are you going somewhere? — the girl's mood instantly changed.
— Yes. I will have a task outside of Kyoto. I should finish it in two, maximum three, days, — having finished his explanation, the guy smiled. — Let's not talk about boring work, how are you doing? How is Shirone doing?
As soon as the topic was changed to her sister, Kuroka enthusiastically began to talk about her younger sister's life and praise her successes. Zankoku listened to his friend with a smile. Such conversations relaxed the guy and gave him peace of mind from constant stress.
He met his sisters a week after breaking up. They also trained under instructors in senjutsu, and also practiced youkai magic. After training, they went together to celebrate the meeting. Having had fun and finding out who was doing what, they decided to periodically arrange such get—togethers.
— Are you listening to me? — the nekoshou looked at the boy suspiciously.
— Of course, of course. You were talking about Shirone's success, — hearing Zankoku's answer, she nodded with a smile. — Listen, Kuroka. How about meeting up together as soon as I get back?
— Together? Do you want to see Shirone?
— You misunderstood me, — the boy gently squeezed his interlocutor's hand. — I mean the two of us. Shall we go on a date later?
When Zankoku's hand covered hers, Kuroka was surprised, but did not try to free herself. Hearing the teenager's words about a date, the nekoshou became embarrassed. From her usual cheerful self, she turned into a shy girl.
— Uh-huh, — Kuroka only nodded, looking away and hiding her blush.
— I'm glad, — Kiyoshi let go of the girl's hand and gently stroked her cat ears. — See you soon, Kuroka. And say hello to Shirone. — Having decided not to embarrass her any further, Zankoku left the cafe.
The next day, the blond got on the train in a great mood. His mission was surveillance. A deal would be made in a nearby port town between Hyakki Yakou and another gang. Zankoku had to follow and find out where their base was. Upon arriving in the city, Kiyoshi met with the leader of the local branch. Having discussed all the details of the work, the teenager went to the hotel to wait for the night.
The moon brightly illuminated the night port, where two groups of people had gathered near one of the hangars. A representative of Hyakki Yakou was demonstrating the goods he had ordered earlier. The contraband was in dozens of boxes, a couple of which were open.
Kiyoshi watched all this from the roof of a building fifty meters from the place of the deal. For the half-demon and the senjutsu user, the night was no obstacle to surveillance. The buyer was satisfied and the boxes were loaded onto the truck. As the car started moving, Zankoku's work began. Following at a distance from the target, the blond had to cross half the city before he reached his destination. The car stopped on a private fenced area.
Having completed his mission, the blond was about to go back, but a voice called out to him:
— Looks like we have rats.
Turning towards the speaker, Kiyoshi saw a dark-haired man hovering a few meters from the ground. A pair of black wings were spread behind him.
— I didn't expect to see a half—demon in front of me, — a light spear appeared in the hands of the fallen man. — Who sent you here? Speak, otherwise you will have to feel the full power of light, demonic spawn.
Kiyoshi did not waste time on talking and launched a magical lightning bolt at his opponent.
— Bastard! — the angel dodged and threw his spear.
Accelerating his body with senjutsu, the blond closed the distance and used fire magic, which he was good at. As soon as the fallen man avoided the fireball, his arm was cut off by wind magic. The pained scream quickly stopped when the man's head was separated from his body.
Giving a quick glance at the dead man, Kiyoshi turned and ran away from the battle. He hoped to hide as far away as possible and avoid further battles.
"Damn! I didn't make it in time." — A spear of light flew right in front of him. Stopping, the blond saw four fallen men. Among them was one with two pairs of black wings.
— You killed one of us and you think you can escape?! — the four-winged man asked angrily.
— That would be nice, — Zankoku found himself surrounded and decided to sell his life dearly. — I have no desire to spend the night in the company of fallen angels. If you were women, I would have thought twice, — the young man smiled, driving the birds crazy, — but there are only a couple of faggots here.
— Attack him! — with the leader's command, the three fallen launched their spears.
Kiyoshi was able to dodge the attack, but the next moment he was pierced by indescribable pain.
— How do you like the taste of a lighted bullet, demon? — with a malicious smile, the fallen fired again, but missed. — How many more times can you dodge? Guys, take him alive. We need to show this freak that sometimes death is not the worst thing.
— Yes! — the fallen responded.
With a damaged leg, the blond was unable to resist for long and was soon wounded again. Having fallen to the ground from an explosion that sounded nearby, Kiyoshi was no longer able to rise. Surrounding the teenager, the angels looked at him with anticipation.
— I should be on the safe side so you don't pull any tricks, — the leader of the angels pointed the gun at the blond.
— A-a-a-a-a-ah! — Kiyoshi couldn't hold back his scream when his arms and legs were shot.
— Shut up! — after a kick delivered straight to the head, the teenager lost consciousness.
Waking up, Zankoku immediately felt a nagging pain in his limbs. An attempt to move failed at first. The blond was sitting on a metal chair and his body was chained, not allowing him to move.
— Oh, you're already awake, — one of the attacking angels watched the teenager.
— Why am I still alive? — Kiyoshi asked in a hoarse voice.
His consciousness cleared up a little, and the teenager was able to examine the place he found himself in. A spacious empty room, where there is nothing but a chair on which a blond man is chained.
— This is an interesting question, but the commander will give you the answer, — the fallen man headed for the door. Already at the threshold, the man turned to the prisoner: — Sit here and don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon.
— Very funny, — the teenager muttered.
He tried to free himself, but to no avail. All his strength was spent during the fight, or on regenerating damage. Every movement was painful because of the bullets that were still in his body.
The door opened again and the fallen man returned to the room, accompanied by his leader. He smiled, looking at the wounded and chained half—demon.
— You are probably tormented by the question of why you were not killed, — having received no answer, he continued: — I don't want you to die so easily. I even had to patch you up a little, otherwise you would have died from blood loss.
Listening to the man's words, Kiyoshi frowned. He didn't like where the conversation was going.
— When I had to report to my commander about what happened, I felt no small shame from the fact that I lost one of my subordinates because of a pathetic half-demon, — he grimaced in disdain, — However, Kokabiel approved my request to keep you alive for a while. He even asked to provide the best service, — the look with which the fallen one cast over the teenager made him tremble.
— As I said before, soon you will feel for yourself that sometimes death is salvation.
With an ominous smile, he left the room, but the second angel remained to guard the prisoner.
— I don't envy you, boy, — the fallen one spoke after a couple of minutes. — Even though you are a demonic spawn, I feel sorry for you.
— What do you mean? — Kiyoshi understood that he was probably being intimidated, but the man's emotions were too believable.
— My commander has a very telling name that suits him very well — Sadiel. He loves to torture demons, so a real Hell awaits you. — the angel sighed heavily. — It would be better if he really just died in our battle.
After these words, the fallen one did not utter another word. Kiyoshi was also silent, immersed in his own thoughts. He tried to find a way out of his situation, but there was no solution. About an hour passed and Sadiel returned. In front of him he was rolling a metal cart full of various tools. Looking at all these things, the teenager remembered stories about torture.
— Well, then — the fallen one twirled the pliers in his hands with a smile, — let's begin our fun.
For several hours, the room was filled with cries of pain. The black-winged one acted slowly, enjoying the despair and pleas of his captive. When Zankoku lost consciousness, Sadiel simply left the room. The Fallen was not afraid that the half-demon would die so easily. He had a lot of experience in making his toys last as long as possible. All the wounds inflicted were cauterized with light, causing additional pain. The man only wondered how long it would take for the blond to break. Sadiel waited for the next day with anticipation.
Kiyoshi woke up when he felt himself being doused with cold water. One of his tormentor's henchmen stood in front of him. The blond spent eight days in captivity. The first three days merged into one moment, when he came to consciousness to experience various perverted tortures. Each time, Zankoku lost consciousness from unbearable pain. At that moment, the teenager cursed his regeneration, because it kept him alive and prolonged the torment.
On the fourth day, the guy felt how the angel's light began to bring a little less pain than before. At first, Kiyoshi thought that it seemed to him, but his conclusion was confirmed on the fifth day. The light really did become less deadly for him each time, only the progress was too slow.
Waking up the next day, the teenager found himself in a new place. Having examined the surroundings, the blond concluded that he was in one of the warehouses in the port. And from that moment on, ordinary people were watching him. Kiyoshi recognized some of them as the bandits who had bought the contraband from Hyakki Yako.
As a result of adaptation to the light, the tortures became more severe and each time lasted longer. Sadiel really liked that Zankoku could recover so quickly. Only the angel was irritated by the fact that the half-demon was starting to get used to the pain. Every day, he had to put in more effort to elicit cries of agony.
— How did you manage to cross this psycho? — the man asked with pity. He had been in the gang for several years, but this was the first time he had encountered such an attitude from a teenager.
— I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, — after a short silence, a smile appeared on his face, at the sight of which the overseer recoiled in horror: — However, if I manage to get out, they will be out of luck. Ha-ha-aha, — Kiyoshi laughed. The teenager understood that after all the horror he had experienced, there was something wrong with his psyche. But he couldn't do anything about it. At the moment, he was worried about the possibility of escaping from captivity.
The man no longer dared to talk to the distraught boy. He silently poured water over the teenager several more times, washing away the impurities. The blond took advantage of the moment and was able to drink some water. During his entire time in captivity, he could only make do with water when he was doused. His stomach ached and asked for food, but after all the pain he had endured, Kiyoshi easily ignored such discomfort.
Soon, Sadiel entered the warehouse. There was no usual anticipatory smile on his face. Instead, the fallen man's face betrayed disappointment.
— Greetings to you, my sweet toy. Unfortunately, today is our last meeting, — he said with a sigh. — Kokabiel ordered to get rid of you and do other things.
At that moment, Kiyoshi was experiencing a storm of emotions. It wasn't fear or anything like that. No. He was feeling anger and frustration. First of all, at himself, that he didn't have the strength to take revenge.
— Since this is our last day together, I decided to give you a present for the last time, — he approached the teenager and moved closer to his ear: — We knew that you would follow that truck and were waiting for you, — seeing the shock on the blond's face, the man continued with a smile: — Satoshi is on our side and sold you out.
Sadiel was satisfied with the half-demon's reaction. Lately, physical torture can't cause much torment to Zankoku. Therefore, psychological torture awaits him.
— Since this news is to your taste, then you will definitely like our next show, — the fallen one gave a sign and his subordinate left for a while.
A few minutes later, he returned accompanied by his friends who were holding the struggling girl. As soon as the teenager saw who the fallen brought, his eyes became full of horror.
— Kuroka.
As soon as he said her name, the cat ears twitched and the nekoshou looked in his direction.
— Kiyoshi, — when she saw his state, she turned pale and stared at the half—demon in shock. — What happened to you? — Tears began to drip from her eyes.
A loud clap of hands was heard. Sadiel attracted attention:
— Since I was not mistaken, and you really know each other, — the fallen looked into Zankoku's eyes with a wide, creepy smile. — Then it's time for your final torture, kid. Right now, right before your eyes, your beloved will be passed around by my subordinates. — He gave the signal, — Enjoy the show.