Gasper kept his eyes locked on the Stray Devil standing right in front of him, its clawed hand extended, waiting. He glanced at Shirou on his shoulder.
Shirou looked back, then hopped down to the floor.
The Stray Devil didn't move a muscle, staring at Gasper, drool dripping from its mouth.
After a moment, Gasper moved his hand behind his back. Seeing this, Shirou took cover behind a nearby wall.
Gasper spoke in a calm tone.
"I think I'll take a rain check."
CLINK!
The Stray Devil's eyes went wide as Gasper pulled a Tommy gun out of nowhere.
He pulled the trigger.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-
CLICK! CLICK!
Gasper let out a slow exhale.
"Did that do it?"
His eyes stayed fixed on the smoke blanketing the area.
Then-
A sharp claw sliced forward, stopping just short of Gasper's face.
Instinctively, he pushed his demonic power into every part of his body, barely moving aside. The claw left a deep cut across his right cheek.
Gasper leaped back, creating distance.
But the Stray Devil broke fully through the dust, charging at him completely unharmed.
His mind raced. 'Okay… first real fight. What do I do? The Tommy gun didn't work. I don't even know if I'm physically capable of taking this thing on!… No. Calm down. Use your head!'
He took a deep breath, stabilizing his Hamon, and scanned the battlefield.
The Stray Devil reached him and swung its claw. He ducked, but it snagged his hair, cutting it drastically.
Gasper caught the falling strands, sending Hamon through them. They glowed, and he threw them straight at the Stray Devil's face.
The Stray Devil barely reacted until-
SHINK!
The strands sliced through its cheek.
"AHHHHH-HH–H-H-H-H-H!!!!"
Gasper didn't hesitate. His body glowed yellow, and he threw a punch aimed for the Stray Devil's chin.
POP! CRACK!
Then his arm extended beyond its limit.
"ZOOOOOM PUNCH!"
BAM!!
Some teeth flew, its head tilted back, staring at the ceiling
Gasper, seeing that it wasn't moving, backed up, cautiously.
Then, faster than he could follow, the Stray Devil snapped its head forward, mouth opening with a magic circle aimed directly at him.
Gasper's eyes widened. He started to move, but it was too late.
A concentrated beam shot toward him.
Cutting through Gasper's left shoulder like wet paper, leaving a gaping hole.
Feeling the pain, Gasper's eyes turned bloodshot.
He bit his inner cheek, forcing his mind away from the agony so he could focus on his opponent.
Then his eyes hyper focused. He grasped at the air with his right hand, and four throwing knives appeared in his grip.
He launched them at the Stray Devil's eyes as it began charging up another shot.
Seeing this, the Stray Devil immediately snapped its head downward, and the knives whizzed past his head and embedded themselves in the walls.
It ended up firing at the floor instead of Gasper, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Gasper charged through the smoke, amplifying his hearing with demonic power to locate the enemy.
But then he came to an abrupt stop, letting his bloodied left hand flop in front, and he put his right hand beneath his forearm, stabilizing it.
His blood began to glow, and he suddenly jumped to the side.
FUUMM!
Another beam passed where he had been.
Landing, he steeled his aim. A circle formed on his left hand. He ran forward as the Stray Devil fired again.
FUUMM! A beam passed to his right. The blood on his arm moved toward the circle.
Once he got close enough, he jumped, another beam fell where he had been.
Mid-air, Gasper locked eyes with the Stray Devil. It charged up another blast, but he ignored it.
He moved his left arm with his right, aiming his left index finger at the Stray Devil's face. The blood in the circle fired forward in a stream, cutting the Stray Devil's beam in half.
The blood sliced clean through its face, taking off half its jaw and its left eye with surgical precision.
As Gasper began falling toward the ground, he thought to himself, "It's over."
At the same time, he moved his right hand to his side, which was clenching what seemed to be red strands of energy.
The knives Gasper had thrown earlier snapped free from the walls.
Gasper spun in mid-air and flipped himself upside down, running Hamon through the red strands of energy.
By the time the Stray Devil realized what was happening, all four knives were already passing through its neck.
Shing!
Its head was cleanly sliced off
Gasper landed neck-first, his legs folding up in front of his face.
He then put his legs on the floor and pushed himself up to his feet, groaning, "AHH! Bad landing!"
Splurt!
He looked at the Stray Devil's body; it was kneeling, blood spraying from its neck
Then it finally fell over.
The warmth from his Hamon seeped into his shoulder, slowing the bleeding. He began wrapping the cloth tightly around the wound, pressing it firmly so he could move without being slowed by the pain.
Then he looked around, calling out, "Shirou! Where are you!?"
At the sound of Gasper's voice, the head of a white cat peeked out from behind some rubble, its eyes full of caution as it glanced at the corpse of the Stray Devil. Then it meowed at Gasper, its gaze fixed on his injuries.
Gasper looked down at Shirou and asked, "Are you okay? Hurt anywhere?"
He then reached out and carefully grabbed Shirou, inspecting him head to toe for any injuries.
Seeing that Shirou was unharmed, he gently set him down and looked around one last time.
With a heavy sigh, Gasper grabbed the Stray Devil's body by one of its arms and began dragging it toward a pile of corpses.
He threw the body onto the pile and thought to himself, 'How many of them are there?' Taking a closer look, he counted carefully. 'There's around nine people here from what I can see… this thing probably killed more though.'
He walked back and grabbed the Stray Devil's head, tossing it onto the pile as well. 'It's a damn shame… all of those people had so much life left to live, probably.'
He moved around the warehouse, adding old crates and broken furniture to the pile. Then he stepped back, raised his right hand, and a red magic circle appeared. A small flame shot out, drifting like an ember in the wind, before landing on the pile and setting it ablaze.
'May you all find peace in whatever land comes after, where hopefully only happiness awaits you.'
Seeing the small ember grow into a blazing inferno, spreading through the warehouse, Gasper began to walk out, with Shirou following close behind.
*****
Gasper sat down on the sidewalk across the street from the now-burning building, staring at the embers ripping through it.
As the adrenaline wore off, he grasped his shoulder, wincing at the pain. 'I… almost died, didn't I?' he thought to himself.
'If it weren't for me messing around with the idea of vampire magic earlier, I probably would have died, not even knowing I could use my blood like that. Hell, I don't even know if that was really vampire magic at all.'
He looked down 'I… need to get stronger…'
←–TO BE CONTINUED—