The two stood frozen, as if time itself had taken a moment to gaze at this gory sight in terror. Each of the girls had stopped struggling against their chains, too horrified for words. Diate gripped the spear tightly and grinned. Cobalt, on the other hand, stared at the weapon as it pierced through his abdomen and out the other side, the speartip dripping with sanguine hues.

Then, all at once, the pain hit.

It was indescribable. Like his very life force was being slowly leeched from his body, the Incubus wrapped his shaking hands around the weapon's shaft and screamed. The Devil laughed as he listened to his cries of pain.

"Really? Really?! I wasn't even aiming to kill you quite just yet! You're pathetic, Trayer! Absolutely pathetic!" he roared, seemingly bemused by Cobalt's agony.

Cobalt tried to stand but quickly dropped to his knees, screaming once more as a fresh stream of blood poured from his wounds onto his hands, before overflowing and pouring all down his front.

"Wh- Wh- Wh- What have you...?!" he stammered, his voice choking up.

The Devil sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"I've won, apparently. Shame; I was hoping our little spat would at least go on for another hour or so," replied Diate, giving him a sideways frown.

He twisted the spear a little, causing Cobalt to scream.

"Such a disappointment. In everything you do."

Shaking all over, the Incubus limply grabbed the bloodied haft of the weapon.

"But perhaps it's to be expected from the town doormat. I was honestly a little sickened when I first laid eyes on you, Trayer; walked all over by everyone you meet. Your students abuse and take advantage of you. Your colleagues mock and look down upon you. You take hits from your enemies and fucking thank them for it. What kind of man does that?"

The edges of his vision began to blur as his extremeties grew numb and cold.

"Sad, weak, pathetic little Cobalt. Born a shadow of his father, lived a life stunted by his own flimsy genes, and died a mediocre death."

Losing the feeling in his hands, the Incubus lost his grip on the haft, causing him to slump forward. Another inch of cold iron was fed into his ruptured abdomen, but by then, the agony was beginning to dull. Through his distorted hearing, he was dimly aware of the girls crying out through their chains.

"Pathetic," Diate repeated.

It was the last thing Cobalt heard, as by then, his eyes blacked out and his head slumped forward. Slowly, his heartrate declined as one last breath was sucked from his lungs.

So this was how it ended.

Diate wasn't wrong; it was a mediocre death.

A mediocre death for a weak lamb of a man.

Pathetic.

Truly...

He was pathetic...

~~~~~

There was a cold comfort to the silence. Cobalt felt a strange sense of neutrality wash over him as he floated in the void. All the supressed anger, pain, horror, fear, dread... gone. He briefly thought of each of the girls and their individual faces, but he quickly pushed them from his mind. No, he was gone now. Dead. He thought he'd be more shocked, but what did he expect? He may have been injured before, but a Devil was still a Devil; he was a fool to think he could stand up to him.

In truth, all Cobalt did was make things worse. He tried to help Quinn, and wound up shattering his spine. He tried to help Izzbelle, and got her ostracized from her family. He tried to help Jelli, and he confused her turbulent emotions even further.

Maybe Diate was right about that too. Incubi were made to destroy everything around them until there was nothing left to break, then wind up devouring themselves. They weren't men. They were just weapons.

And he wasn't even that.

At least...

At least it was over now. Cobalt didn't have to worry about his past or his future any longer.

He just hoped they would be okay...

"Open your eyes."

No. He couldn't. This time, Cobalt wasn't going to fight it.

"Oh yes you will."

Why? How many times now has he been pushed to the brink of death, only to pull himself from the brink and suffer for it later?

"Enough times to realise that dying just isn't in your nature."

No. He's had enough. He was dying, and there was no coming back this time.

"Hmph. At least look me in the eyes and tell me that."

Cobalt couldn't feel anything anymore, but as soon as he heard those words, he felt his eyelids flutter. Though he didn't want to, the sensation persisted until he was forced to peel his eyes open, revealing his surroundings to him.

The Incubus was lying on the floor of the cozy study of his Deepest Refuge, though it wasn't cozy anymore. The fire was dead, the lights were turned off, and the furniture lay scattered and broken. The floor beneath him felt cold like stone, and some of the wood panelling on the walls had given way to sterile tiles, like those of the...

"... Undercroft..." the Incubus wheezed, frowning as he remembered that horrible night, back on his twenty-first birthday.

"So he speaks. It seems you're not dead quite just yet," spoke a voice from somewhere in front of him.

Wincing, he craned his neck to face straight ahead of him.

The black cat was sitting just a few feet away, its emerald eyes staring directly at the Incubus. All around him, the black books lay scattered and torn and it looked as though thorned vines were creeping through cracks in the floor, as well as a few in the walls and ceiling.

"Just leave me be. I've had enough," he sighed painfully, letting his head rest on the ground.

"Why? Didn't you say you weren't going to-?"

"Please. Just... please. I want to rest."

The cat cocked its head.

"Has the fight truly left you, Cobalt?"

"I never had any fight in me to begin with."

"Really? An Incubus with no fight? It doesn't-!"

"Enough!"

He just about managed to raise a leaden arm to weakly slam his fist against the floor, scattering a fair amount of dust everywhere.

"I know what I am, okay?! I know I was fated to be a monster! Isn't that what you keep telling me?! That I can't outrun my fate?! Well I'm not running anymore! I'm going to die here, and I'm fine with that! You won! Happy?!" he choked, unable to raise his voice to the volume he wanted.

The cat shook its head.

"It's true that you're finally facing what you are, just as I had hoped. But I never wanted you to die, Cobalt. Which is precisely why you're not."

"Why not?!"

"Because we wouldn't be having this conversation if you truly wished the end upon yourself."

He tried to retort. He tried to dig deep into his dwindling energy reserves and truly give that damned cat a piece of his mind, but Cobalt could find the answers he was looking for.

"But I've always been against direct intervention, at least when it came to major descisions. If you want to die in peace, I'll leave you to it," it sighed, standing up and arching its back to stretch.

The cat turned around and made for the door, brushing the Incubus' nose with its tail as it did so. Before it passed into the hall, however, it looked back over its shoulder.

"You're an Incubus, and your body was made for war. But your mind is still your own."

With that, it left Cobalt alone in the study to die.

He shut his eyes once more, he fists clenched numbly before him. He could feel part of himself aching from the pain; his stomach most especially. He had hoped to go in peace, but now that cat's words were making him second-guess himself. Always with the doubts and second-guessing... Why couldn't he just be confident in his descisions? Even at the end of his very life, why was Cobalt still on the bloody fence?!

A flash of anger causing his gut to twinge painfully. Gritting his teeth, he forced his eyes open again.

Did he really want to die? Or was he just tired of fighting? Fighting back the knowledge of what he was, fighting the cruel hands that fate kept dealing him, fighting down the urge to just-

To just what?

Karazelle, Jelli, Whitney, Elya, Lottie, Quinn and Izzbelle. When he was with them, he felt like he should be feeling something. Something that was critically missing.

What was it?

When Izzbelle and Jelli kissed him, he almost felt something come alive deep down, but where there should have been something, Cobalt just felt an absense, and the fear that came with emptiness.

And what of them? The girls that he had come to know over the course of the year? What would happen to them? They were still in Diate's clutches, weren't they?

He cleared his throat.

"W- Wait. Come back," he called weakly.

There was no reply from beyond the study.

Gritting his teeth, Cobalt began the long and arduous crawl towards the door. He dragged his legs behind him, wincing as the blood poured from the gaping wound in his stomach and left and dark red trail on the floor behind him. It hurt like all Hell, but every spike and twinge of agony brought a little more feeling back into his body.

Grasping the door, he pulled it open to reveal the hallway.

The floorboards were smashed to bits, revealing the grey stone underneath. The wooden panels on the walls had burned away to reveal more tiles, all the while dozens of thorny rose vines grew from many cracks, their crimsone flowers staring down at him from on high. The cat was sitting beside one of the open doorways, staring.

"The will to survive is a seductive temptress," it remarked, watching as Cobalt dragged himself across the broken furniture and ruined books.

"What do you mean, 'my mind's my own?'" he asked breathlessly.

Its eyes glinted despite the gloom.

"Incuspychosis is a strange thing. Chemicals locked in the brain are unleashed, triggering physical changes in the body that defy most physiological and magical logic, whilst degrading the mind to that of a slavering beast. You saw your body change with your own eyes, and yet you still think like a rational man."

It arched its back again, almost appearing to shrug.

"I'm not saying that your mind is completely intact, Cobalt, but it's still your at the end of the day. You've still kept the hunger in check."

Deep down, the smouldering embers reignited, intensifying the pain in his stomach. Swallowing hard, the Incubus continued another few inches down the hall.

"The... hunger...?"

"It's a tool like anything else. Most Incubi use it to fuel their bloodlust and gorge themselves sensless. Or at least they try to. But you can use yours for good. To drive yourself beyond your limits and fight. To truly fight," the cat continued.

It nodded its head, almost reverently.

"That's what I've been trying to get you to do. To face your flaws, to grab them by the throat, and turn them into strengths."

Cobalt swallowed hard.

"Strength..."

Surely enough, feeling was slowly seeping back into his body. The pain worsened, yes, but the hopelessness was not. Gritting his teeth, he reached up for one of the vines on the wall and began the agonising process of pulling himself to his feet. With every movement he made, blood poured from the holes in his front and back, staining his robes darker and dark hues of red.

"You're a stronger man than you know. You still have things worth fighting for. Tooth and nail."

Leaning against the wall, Cobalt looked down at his hands. They were pale and shaking.

"T- Teeth and nails... the arsenal of an Incubus..." he breathed, remembering Diate's words.

As the cat stood up and began to lead him down the hall, the Incubus gradually grew more and more steady on his feet. Clutching his stomach, he winced and thought about what it had told him.

"Things worth fighting for..." he murmured, nearly tripping over a chair leg.

It looked back, eyes glinting.

"Oh, it's hardly polite to call them 'things', Cobalt," it chided, tail swinging playfully.

That... was true. Beyond the confines of his Deepest Refuge, out in the real world, the Incubus still had seven very good reasons for pushing on.

A brash Oni with a will of iron, a tongue of steel and a heart of gold.

A gentle Glutton with the strength to cry and the fortitude to hold one's hand.

A sharp-eyed Fallen with unshakable convictions and a need to protect those she cares about, even those she won't admit to caring for.

A witty Imp with loyalty forged in blood, gunpowder and cheeky remarks.

A caring Golem with an endless love for all she meets.

A steadfast Nymph that holds true to her ideals, even through mires of uncertainty.

And a Succubus with eyes of love and passion, who has ever stood by his side, whether he knew it or not...

"I... can't leave them. Not now. They counted on me against all odds, and I cannot let them down...!" he gasped, clutching his wound.

He pushed away from the wall. Wobbling back and forth for a moment, Cobalt felt as though he was going to topple over, but thankfully kept his balance. At the far end of the hall, he could see a set of double doors, held shut by chains. There was something written on it, but he couldn't quite make it out...

Step by step, he pushed on, bleeding all the while. His movements grew quicker as the life returned to his body.

"Can't stop... Not now... I'm their teacher, dammit...!"

"You're more than that."

"Y- Yes... I'm their friend!"

The cat stopped right by the door.

"And more than that besides. But you needn't admit it just yet."

It nodded at the door.

"Go. Save them," it said finally.

Cobalt stopped and stared at the door. The chains were holding it shut, and dozens of roses had sprouted from the wood, their vines intertwining with the rusty iron links. Letters were painted across them in red paint.

RESOLVE

The Incubus took a deep breath.

"Hold on, girls... I'm coming...!"

He raised his foot and slammed it into the doors. The chains shattered and they flew open, immedietely enveloping him in a bright beam of white light.

~~~~~

When Cobalt's eyes snapped open, he was hit with the pain all at once. The spear was still firmly lodged in his stomach - he could feel it jutting out his back - but the agony no longer felt quite so draining. Gasping for breath, he looked up at Diate, who was holding the haft at arm's length.

His red eyes widened.

"How surprising. You seem to have a knack for cheating death, though I feel it's a wasted talent," the Devil remarked, smiling smugly.

He twisted the spear cruelly, but Cobalt did not scream. Gripping the blood-slicked haft, he forced himself back upright, much to Diate's amusement.

"It seems the wishes of your girls came true. Up for round two, Trayer? Or would you rather sit there and watch as I tear into them?"

Baring his teeth, he began to pull more of the weapon into himself, hissing in pain as more and more of the bloody spear was pushed out his back. It was an indescribably awful sensation, but he did not cry out. Deep down, he felt the fire grow hotter and hotter. This time, he kept a hold of it. Not to push it down, but to temper it.

"Maybe their death rattles will give you the motivation to finally let loose. Maybe not. But I think I'll start with the Glutton; she particularly breakable...!"

As Cobalt closed the gap between him and Diate, the sky overhead rumbled ominously. Steam began to rise from his wounds as the lighter cuts on his chest seared themselves shut. Diate laughed.

"Oh my, you have to be joking. Not even Brass was this foolhardy."

With several feet of iron spear sticking out of his back, Cobalt let go and slipped a hand into his pocket, feeling around for something.

"Y- You can do what you want to me, Diate... really, I- I don't care..."

He felt his fingers wrap around something. Something dependable.

"But as long as I still breathe...!"

He finally let go of the fire and let it burn. It spread through his body; boiling his blood, intensifying his pain, and causing newfound strength to surge through Cobalt's battered body.

"NO-ONE LAYS A FUCKING FINGER ON THEM~!"

He swung his arm upwards with all of his might.

With force and accuracy unbecoming of a man on his last legs, Cobalt brought the steel ink pen upwards in a brutal arc, stabbing its reinforced nib right through the soft flesh beneath Diate's jaw. The Devil cried out in shock, confusion and pain as he staggered back, letting go the the spear in order to extricate the pen from his jaw. The iron spear faded away into dark grey smoke, allowing Cobalt to fall onto one knee.

But he was not winded. Not in the slightest.

Looking down, he watched in amazement as the blood pouring from his wounds hissed and spat as it came into contact with the cold air. Beneath his skin, he could see the boiling vessels glowing red, and the scars on his fists shining angrier still. Swallowing hard, he picked up the tattered remains of his shirt and tied them around his midsection, staunching the flow as best he could.

It hurt. And it hurt good.

With Diate distracted, the Incubus marched up to him and swiftly punched the Devil in the face. It was no feeble strike, not like he was used to dealing. It was a strong haymaker that completely bowled the fiend over, causing blood to splatter from his mouth as he gargled in confusion.

"Here I am, Diate! An Incubus, just like you wanted!"

He cracked his knuckles.

"And my fangs are fucking bared...!"

Diate, with the pen still lodge halfway in his mouth, rushed forward and tried to assault Cobalt with flurry of punches, but he just raised his fists in front of his face and weathered every blow.

Oh, that roiling, boiling ball of heat that had plagued him for so long. That sensation he couldn't put his finger on for the longest time. Anger, frustration, defiance... All that and more.

He was starving.

Knocking Diate's strikes away like they were nothing, Cobalt railed a fist into the Devil's stomach, keeling him over before he slammed his knee into his face, shattering his nose quite spectacularly.

"Was this the fight you wanted?!"

Diate tried another punch, only for the Incubus to catch his wrist mid swing. He tightened his grip, feeling the bones crumple as his scars glowed brighter.

"Am I everything you hoped for?!"

Cobalt turned on his heel and swung Diate over his shoulder, slamming the Devil into the bloodstained concrete as the sky flashed overhead.

"Do I live up to Brass' legend?!"

He dropped down onto his knees, crushing a few of his ribs beneath him. Cobalt raised his fists and concentrated, feeling the fire in his stomach grow white hot. It surged up through his arms and into his hands, causing pins and needles that grew more and more painful with every second. Gritting his teeth, the Incubus watched with bloodshot eyes as jagged spurs of bone pierced through his flesh, forming spikes all over his hands and forearms.

No. They were teeth. Sharp, serrated teeth.

Looking down, he saw that Diate's eyes were wide and horrified. Like he had seen such a terrible sight before.

Cobalt struck him once. The left side of the Devil's face was ripped open as the protruding fangs gouged his flesh.

He struck again. Blood and teeth were splattered all over the concrete around them.

Again. A horrible crunching sound rang out across the rooftop as Diate's jaw was broken.

And again. More blood flowed, and Cobalt felt a sickening pop as one of the fangs pierced his left eyeball.

But it was not enough.

"No more witty comments?! No sly remarks about how 'weak' I am?!" he roared, grabbing the Devil by the throat.

He wrenched him to his feet, only to sink his teeth deep into Diate's shoulder. He could only gargle through his destroyed face as the Incubus' jaw clamped around his trapezius muscle. Blood flowed into Cobalt's mouth and down his throat, fueling fire and granting him the strength rip out a sizable chunk of glistening flesh and ragged grey skin.

He swallowed, blood boiling all the hotter.

Still not enough.

Tackling Diate around the stomach, Cobalt pinned him to the chainlink fence with one hand as he ripped the iron horns from his belt with the other. A sadistic grin spread across his face as he was struck with a terrible idea.

With a swift punch to the stomach that ripped out a sizable amount of skin, the Incubus knelt down and pierced one of the metal horns through Diate's right foot. It tore through the flesh and out the other size, buring into the concrete underneath and pinning him in place. Doing the same to the other foot, Cobalt staggered back, gasping for breath as he observed his handiwork.

His vision was blood red, and all around him, he could see budding red roses push their way up through cracks in the concrete.

"You may have your vendettas against me and my name, but they're innocent in all of this," he growled, gesturing to the girls.

Each and every one of them lay completely still as they watched, utterly petrified.

"What I'm doing to you... isn't even the least of what you deserve!"

Diate, with tears streaming from his one good eye, fixed Cobalt with a terrified stare.

"M- Mongh... sturgh..." he choked, his voice garbled beyond recognition.

Anger flared through the Incubus' body, encouraging him to march up to the Devil and snap his lower leg with a single, brutal kick. As he howled in pain, he did the same to the other leg, causing the Devil to topple forwards with a disgusting crunch.

The horns were loosened, allowing Diate to try and crawl away as his legs trailed uselessly behind him. Cobalt just watched for a moment, gasping for breath.

"You know, I don't know much about Brass, and I guess I'm still learning," he murmured quietly as he slowly walked after the broken Devil.

The sky flashed with red light up above. A terrified, whimpering noise rang out from Diate.

"But if anything, I've learned this; he shouldn't have let you live...!"

He dropped to his knees and grabbed the Devil hard. One arm wrapped around his throat as the other hand tightened around his face. The fangs bit deep into his flesh.

"... and I vow to learn from his mistakes!"

He hooked his thumb into Diate's eye socket. With that hand, he wrenched his head to the left whilst pulling the rest of his body to the right.

Crack. Slich. Pop.

Roaring like an animal, the Incubus tore the Devil's head clean off his shoulders, silencing his harrowing cries for good. From the ragged neck stump, a plume of bright red rose petals shot into the air like a sanguine fountain, where they hung in the air for a momen before floating back down to earth.

It was a beautiful sight, enough to enrapture the Incubus for a moment as he took a step back. He stood there with severed head in hand, watching the roses flutter and blood all around him.

The hunger burned deep down. Dimly, he remember something that the cat said to him.

"It's up to you to decide just how mad you truly get."

This...

This was...

"... too far..."

Slowly, the fire died away. His boiling blood cooled to a simmer as the glow in his veins faded. The strength faded, the pain returned, and Cobalt was left staring at what truly lay before him.

The headless body of Diate - still on his shattered knees - slowly toppled over as blood spewed from the stump. A lake of red slowly spilled out of the corpse, prompting Cobalt to look down at the ruined head he held in his hands. He dropped it out of shock and his ink pen popped out of the Devil's mouth, before the head lolled to the side and rolled away.

He heard the chains shatter all around him. The Devil was dead, and his magic couldn't bind his students any longer.

Cobalt felt sick.

Shaking, he looked down at his hands. Teeth jutted from his flesh at irregular angles.

"Wh- What have I done...?!" he breathed in a terrified voice.

Crying out, he toppled to the ground, crippled by the pain in his stomach.

"Sir!" he heard someone scream, following by the heavy pounding of feet on the concrete.

Seven figures bustled into view above him, but his vision was already starting to blur. He pushed himself too far. He was fading; his very life force leaching out through the hole in his back.

"Wh- What the fuck was that?! What just happened?!" cried a terrifed, nasal voice.

Whitney.

"Does it matter? He just save our lives! Everyone's lives!" retorted another, more cockney tone.

Quinn.

"Hey, dumbass! C'mon, just fuckin' stay with me, alright?! I'm not watchin' you do this again!" called an accented voice as a stong hand clasped his.

Izzbelle.

"N- No...! Please...!" sobbed a fourth, German-sounding voice.

Jelli.

"Is he okay?! What happend?!" cried another one, this one confused.

Lottie.

"Just above the large intestine, between the pancreas and the left kidney, it seems. An exceptionally lucky blow, my love. We must get you somewhere safe," a monotonous voice informed him.

Elya.

"Izzbelle, pick him up and hold him steady, okay? Elya, keep him stable! Quinn, Lottie; get that door open! Butterskin, run on and call an ambulence or something! Jelli, just hold my hand, alright! Go!"

And Karazelle.

The Incubus felt the world pull away from under him as he lifted up into a pair of strong arms. Deft hands tightened the ragged shirt tied around his waist as was carried through a doorway, all the while he could see the face of a Succubus running alongside him.

She looked deep into his eyes and smiled despite her tears.

"You did good, sugar. Just stay with me, okay?" she breathed, though her voice was shaking.

Groaning, Cobalt reached out for her, but only succeeded in streaking blood on her cheek with his fanged hand.

"Stay with me."

His head slumped back, and everything went dark.