(TPD) Chapter 40: Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade

Chapter 40: Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade

After the group had been treated to a mouth-watering round of hot pot, which had left the War God absolutely flabbergasted at the amount of food Adaloth and Avalon were capable of consuming, they were brought to an opulent looking three-story house located on the wealthier side of the town. A house that had been solely reserved for them to stay in as a result of the meeting being delayed because of the complications Heaven was experiencing with organizing their church representative.

Jin approached Serafall, handing her a small metallic object. "Here's the key, and if you need to contact me for anything just flare up your Demonic Power or something. I'll be hanging around to make sure no unwelcome company has the opportunity to crash the event."

"Who would even have the gall to attack a place that a Chief-God declared a neutral zone?" Avalon asked.

Jin shrugged, "You never know." He proceeded to vanish using some sort of movement technique after leaving the group with that ominous message.

Everyone exchanged an equally confused glance with one another before entering their temporary abode one by one, each of them eager to get some rest before the meeting commenced.

"Avalon?" But for some reason, the person who should've been more interested in hitting the hay than anyone else wasn't moving, instead choosing to look into the distance as if something had caught his attention. "What's wrong?" Adaloth asked, tracing his gaze but finding nothing of note.

Avalon inhaled sharply, a pungent, metallic odour invading his nostrils the more he honed his senses in whatever it was that had alerted him. The smell grew more and more familiar by the second, proving to be a smell he had encountered plenty of times before.

"Hello? Anyone home?" She waved his hand in front of his face, annoyed at his lack of response.

"I smell blood," he murmured. Taking another whiff of the air again for the sake of confirmation. "Someone's dying, I'm going to go check it out." Did Jin Toujou not sense it? Or did he just pretend not to? He didn't move in the direction of the smell, but I doubt he'd be brought on for guard duty if he wasn't a good sensor.

Similar to Jin, Avalon didn't hesitate to take off at full speed, making it seem like he had vanished into thin air to everyone else. "And he's gone, great." Adaloth rolled her eyes, wondering why Avalon just couldn't sit still for a few seconds.

"Should I go follow him?" Eurus asked.

"Don't bother, we both know you won't be able to catch up." With how dense the town was, finding Avalon would prove to be an extra challenge than it already was on top of his innate elusiveness. It would be like playing a game of hide and seek on steroids, and the only one on steroids was the person hiding.

---

Naoetsu Town, Eikou Cram School.

"Good grief, did he have to choose such a squalid location as his base?" Jin grumbled, pushing aside the chain link gate with the words "KEEP OUT" on it that led into the now abandoned and decommissioned Eikou Cram School. An institution that had gone out of business almost over a decade ago, but the plot of land it was constructed on hadn't been picked up by any developmental or construction, leaving it to be owned by the town.

The cram school was rectangular in shape and in noticeably horrid condition, its interior being nothing more than a series of messy rooms that hadn't been touched by a broom ever since the place went under. The majority of its structure was surrounded by wire fencing and hazard signs, and the exterior was fenced off by metal scaffolding.

And most notable of all, a single withered tree could be spotted on the building's rooftop, its roots having spread through the entirety of the institution's infrastructure.

Jin frowned, watching as a rat darted across the concrete flooring. "I don't even want to know how many diseases this place is home to."

Even though entering the area without permission was technically considered trespassing, no efforts to enforce that rule through security or CCTV cameras had been made—meaning that homeless and unruly teenagers alike were free to come and go as they pleased.

He threw his cigarette bud onto the ground and stamped it out, lowering his hips and leaping over the entirety of the abandoned school's height in one swift movement, landing on the roof shortly after with cat-like nimbleness and grace.

"Yo! You look lively!" A voice just as gravely as his called out to him, stemming from a figure sitting down on one of the withered tree's branches with a single leg up. "Did something good happen?"

"He sensed her just as you predicted," Jin grumbled, clearly not interested in sticking around for longer than he needed to.

"Impressive isn't he? Even if just a little bit of someone's smell or presence is around, he'll lock onto them in an instant!" The figure jumped out of the tree's shadow onto the ground, revealing himself to be a middle-aged man with a lanky physique, short spiky hair that had been dyed blonde, a goatee, and yellow eyes.

He wore a pink aloha shirt that he had left unbuttoned, a pair of dark-colored cargo shorts, and black sandals resembling Japanese geta.

"Yes, very impressive." Jin replied with hardly any enthusiasm, "Why are you even going this far to help out some Vampire? Oshino."

Indeed, Jin was in the presence of none other than the man responsible for organizing the entire meeting in the first place. Oshino Meme—the man tied to the Greek Pantheon, and more specifically one of its Goddesses—Harmonia.

Oshino wagged his finger at Jin, "Tsk Tsk. She's not just some Vampire, she's the one and only Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. What kind of balancer would I be if I didn't take notice of her presence?"

"Taking notice is one thing, taking an interest is another."

"Haha! There's no need to overcomplicate everything Toujou-kun, I simply saw a Princess in need of help so I decided to come to her aid. Isn't that how a Hero ought to act?"

Jin shrugged, "Don't ask me, I'm just another retired geezer now. If you don't want to tell me why you're so interested in the Vampire, that's fine—but at least let me in on why you chose the Devil of all people to be the one to find her?"

"The answer to that is also pretty simple, it was nothing more than a process of elimination. Heaven would obviously just kill her on sight, and Grigori would ignore her because she's not interesting enough according to their criteria."

"And you think the Devil's going to be her ally?" He scoffed.

"Why not? He took in the strongest Fallen Angel after all, if that doesn't prove his disregard for one's species then I'm not sure what does," Oshino beamed. "Also, he's married to Zekram Bael herself. Someone like Heart-Under-Blade should be right up his alley!"

Jin's eyes widened. "Wait, you weren't joking about the Zekram thing?"

"Why would I ever lie to you Toujou-kun? You're my dear client, customer satisfaction has always been my top priority."

He exhaled deeply, "Sure. Just make sure you keep up your hold of the bargain," deciding that there wasn't anything else he was interested in talking about, Jin proceeded to take an early departure.

"Don't worry, I've already sworn on behalf of the Greek Pantheon that you and Raphaeline will meet once again." Oshino held his breast pocket, feeling the pulsating rhythmic beating resounding from within.

A rhythm that was akin to a heart, a heart that did not belong to him.

"Don't mess this up Princess, if you can't make it work this time. Then there's really going to be nothing left for you."

---

Only a few seconds after picking up on the lingering odor of blood, Avalon found himself standing at the entrance of Naoetsu's local subway station. The brick pathing around him entirely stained red, the sheer volume of blood within the vicinity akin to what you'd expect from at least a dozen fully grown adults bleeding out entirely.

Avalon crouched down, scooping up some of the blood with his finger and sticking it in his mouth without hesitation.

That's nasty Avalon, Tomoe recoiled internally. That's really nasty.

He hummed, his face scrunching up as he tried to figure out what species the blood belonged to—but failed. A species I've never encountered before, not that I've encountered very many in the first place. Fortunately for him, he had another voice in his head aside from Tomoe to help him out. Pandorica, surely you have something for me?

[Young Lord, I'm not connected to my parent system anymore now that I'm in the human world. The Lord's temporary upgrades have only enabled me to manage your senses while I'm disconnected, but I'm afraid I can't do anything beyond that for the time-being.]

Or not.

Oh, I forgot. He sighed, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and starting to descend the staircase that led into the station. The quiet air of the currently asleep town, and subtle whirring of electronic advertisement posters and lighting hitting his ear drums.

He continued to follow the blood trail, tracking the signature of the single presence he had detected upon arriving at the station entrance. Do all Japanese towns get this silent when it's midnight? I expected there to be at least a few local crackheads here and there running about.

Eventually, he made it down to one of the train lines, the metallic smell having grown as strong as it possibly could—to the point where one might think an entire genocide had taken place right before them.

And then a different sound reached him, not that of the nearby electrical appliances, nor that of a passing train.

It was heaving, the heavy, labored, anguished heaving of the woman laid on her back in front of him.

She looked to be in her late 20's, sporting yellow eyes, pointed ears, and long blond hair that reached down to her waist, and curled outward at the end with a black ribbon hanging by one of the strands.

Her figure was nothing short of stunning, blessed with slender curvature and a well endowed chest that was pronounced by the old black and red dress she wore, made with some sort of combination of silk and pelt.

But with the way Avalon's vision worked, there was only one thing about her visual-wise that had caught his attention—and that was the fact that all her limbs had been severed, leaving her a bleeding, soon-to-be dead mess on the station's floor.

Well, the fact that she's still alive confirms that she isn't a human at the very least. He slowly started to approach her, the sound of his footsteps causing her to lean forward with what little strength she had in her back, facing him with a justifiably confused expression.

"Hello," he stood to her side, his height casting a shadow over her figure. "You seem to be in quite the pickle, who attacked you?" He tilted his head, discretely calculating how long she had left before even her seemingly impressive ability to hold out failed her.

"...You… You're a Devil…" Each word appeared to take herculean effort for her to muster.

He nodded, "Yes. I'm a Devil, and you are—what exactly are you?" He bluntly asked the question plaguing his mind.

"...Vampire."

"Oh, I guess that would explain how you're still alive." Out of all the species out there, Vampires arguably had the strongest regeneration factor, which scaled with their strength and the purity of their bloodline. And for the Vampire before him to still be alive in spite of all the damage she had endured, which appeared to be enough to stop her limbs from regenerating—was nothing short of remarkable. She physically couldn't be anything less than an absolute top-class Vampire. "However, your time is running out. Which I doubt you haven't already realized."

"Blood… Give me… Your blood." She shuffled her body, as if trying to reach out to him with an arm she didn't possess.

He smirked, "How forward. If you're going to ask me for such a thing, then don't you think it's a bit improper to not tell me your name first?"

"It's… long… You won't remember it."

"Try me."

"...Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade."

Avalon pursed his lips, falling silent. "You aren't joking are you?" She just stared at him blankly. "Yeah, there's no way I'm remembering all that. I'll just call you Acerola for the sake of convenience."

She sighed, "Are you… Going to help me or not?"

He scratched his chin, "There's still some more questions I'd like to ask you, but I guess there's no point in probing you further if you're just going to die halfway through." He pulled out a kunai, using it to cut his forearm which he held over Acerola's face. "Enjoy."

She opened her mouth, hurriedly ingesting the red liquid, shocked to find just how little of it she needed for her limbs to start regenerating. The weakness rapidly leaving her body and being replaced with an adrenaline rush of dopamine caused by the sheer potency of his Avalon's blood.

"Now that you're not at risk of dying anymore, let's talk for a—"

The second that her arms and legs had fully regrown, she pounced on him, tackling him to the ground and straddling him. Her breathing was warm and heavy, and her eyes were fixated on nothing but his neck. "More," she growled.

"Oh my, you're lucky Adaloth isn't watching."

Her gaze narrowed, noticing that Avalon had some sort of device around his neck, blocking her from sinking her fangs into her target.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you, otherwise I'll have no choice but to kill you."

She reached out and grabbed the collar of his hoodie, sliding it aside to reveal his shoulder. She opened her mouth as wide as she could, proceeding to lunge her head forwards and sank her fangs deep into his skin. Greedily slurping up his blood to her heart's content.

Luckily Avalon's immense life force put him at no risk of dying from having too much blood sucked up, and the fact that there wasn't a full moon out prevented him from being turned into a Vampire himself—or more specifically Acerola's kin.

Once she was satisfied, she reeled her head backwards, steam rising from the sides of her mouth as her breathing remained heavy. "Why did you help me?"

He raised his brow, "That's a strange question to ask. You're the one who asked for my assistance weren't you? It's only natural that I lend a helping hand."

"That's not a good reason, you don't know me nor did you have any obligation to help. What is it you're hoping to gain here?" She pressured him further while still straddling him, her hair touching the sides of his face, and the sight of her cleavage of full display—making for quite the pleasurable experience if he wasn't wearing his blindfold.

"No clue, helping you didn't really cost me much so I'm not exactly looking for a return on an investment or something of the sort." He shrugged, "If you really want an answer. Then I'll just go ahead and say it was because of morbid curiosity, I've never met a Vampire before after all."

She narrowed her eyes further, finding it hard to tell whether he was being disingenuous or not. "What's a Devil doing in a place like this anyway? And how did you end up finding me?"

He chuckled lightly, "I could ask you the same question. What's a Vampire doing in Japan? If I remember correctly, your species normally live a more solitary life over in Romania." She was a long way from home, that much was for certain. "As for how I found you," he tapped his nose. "I have a pretty good sense of smell, so it wasn't hard to find you when I smelt your blood all over the place."

Again, she tried to gauge whether he was telling the truth or lying, but Avalon's posture and facial expression proved impossible to read, especially with his blindfold covering half of his face. "I just came here to commemorate an old friend, but my visit didn't go exactly as planned."

"I can tell," he also detected the lingering presence of Holy Power radiating from her. "I already asked this before but I'll ask it again, who attacked you?" Naoetsu was supposed to be declared a neutral zone for the time-being, but it didn't seem like Acerola was involved with any of the three factions by the looks of things, nor did her statement about why she was visiting seem like a lie to him.

More like a half-truth.

"It was a group of Exorcists," she said followed by a deep sigh, clearly embarrassed at the fact that she had lost. "There were three of them, they each stole a fragment of me, and refused to finish me off for some reason. Probably out of arrogance," she scoffed as if she were trying to vent her frustration.

Exorcists? Does that have something to do with the church representative issue Jin Toujou mentioned? He pondered. "You don't know what's going on here in Naoetsu do you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He sighed, pitying the poor Vampire. "You really are quite unfortunate. This place has just been declared a neutral zone by the Greek Pantheon, Heaven, Grigori, and us Devils are all gathering here for a meeting."

Her eyelids lifted in shock, "A meeting? Since when were the three of you on good enough terms for a meeting to be called? Actually, I heard something about you and Grigori having a war not too long ago."

"We did, and none of us are friends with one another. That's why the place had to be declared a neutral zone, now about these Exorcists—what do you mean they stole a fragment of you?"

"They used some kind of method to seal away a part of my power and take it with them, not that I have any clue as to what they're planning on using it for." She clutched her chest, "Normally I'd be able to snuff them out like it was nothing. But for some reason my power was a lot weaker than usual, like I had already had something taken from me beforehand."

Avalon frowned, sensing that something was off about her latter statement. Of course, since he wasn't physic he couldn't muster up anything more than suspicion at the moment. But the feeling was still there.

"Sounds rough, how do you plan on getting your power back from them while you're weakened?"

That was a good question indeed, causing Acerola to fall deep into thought, a wry grin crawling up her face as she stared at him. "I won't be doing anything," she reached her hand out, caressing his cheek. "You want to help me don't you? I only think it's fair that you see it all the way through. Men who can't fully commit are awfully unattractive if you ask me."

"Haha, so you basically want me to retrieve your power for you? I didn't know Vampires could be so shameless!" He laughed audibly, apparently not all that offended by her request—which was more like a demand taking her wording into account. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Seriously?" She was taken aback, not expecting him to have agreed so easily.

"Why not? Like you said, I'm not one to half-ass things. However, if you want me to go track them down then I think it's in your best interests to get off me." Not that he minded the sensation of her supple breasts pressing against him.

"You're going to go fight them now?"

"Well, I won't have a chance to do so tomorrow since that's when the meeting's going to happen, and I'm eager to meet a group of Exorcists bold enough to go hunting in a place declared a neutral zone." For them to so openly defy the decree of the Greek Pantheon, I'm sure they'll be an interesting bunch.

---

Moral of the story? Don't enter subway stations if you're wearing a blindfold, or you might end up being straddled by a Vampire, or imprisoned by someone impersonating your twink boyfriend.