DMC: Being a demon hunter in Japan is not easy

"It's time to go. We need to find Yotsuba-chan." Nino said with a smile.

"If she's with Uesugi-kun, it makes things easier." Itsuki tilted her head innocently.

"Futaro-kun... I wonder what your blood tastes like?" Ichika grinned maliciously.

"Fuutaro, what kind of face will you make when I tear Yotsuba's heart out right in front of your eyes~?" For Miku, nothing mattered more than killing her sister while Uesugi watched helplessly.

With nothing left to do in the old and abandoned apartment complex, the girls started walking toward the exit.

"I'm starting to think you were all this crazy before being possessed."

Before they could leave, a third voice echoed through the place.

"How are you still alive?" Ichika glared furiously.

The injuries piled upon the demon hunter were extreme. No human should have survived, and even if by some miracle they did, the immense blood loss would've been fatal. For anyone else, at least. But not for Desmon, whose wounds had already healed as he stood up.

"Movie magic, maybe?" Desmon said with a smirk.

"You're not human!"

There was no doubt now; the boy standing before Kiyohime was far from ordinary.

"Oh, how curious. Demons usually recognize me right away." Desmon said, closing the gap between him and Ichika before slamming his fist into her face, driving her headfirst into the ground.

However, Ichika's scales mitigated the damage and reflected it, causing several cuts to appear on Desmon's hand.

"I'm not a masochist, but there's a first time for everything." He said, clenching his fist as the wounds healed instantly.

"You're a demon!"

"Congratulations, Sherlock, you've figured out what other demons know at first glance."

Itsuki and Miku charged at Desmon, but he dodged them and closed in on Nino. Grabbing her by the head, he kneed her face, shattering it with the impact. To make matters worse, he spun midair, delivering a descending axe kick to her stomach with his right leg.

Nino's body took severe damage, and though her scales were meant to provide resistance and reflect the blows, Desmon withstood the feedback with a grin.

"If you're a demon, the idea of a date sounds nice." Itsuki teased, winking at him.

Kiyohime hadn't expected Desmon to be a demon; his lack of the usual demonic aura all demons possessed caught her off guard.

-I might be wrong, but... how is he still alive without a demonic aura?

The demonic aura is a demon's essence. Its disappearance signifies their end. Kiyohime's surprise was understandable.

"Tempting offer, but you four seem like way too much trouble. It's not you; it's me." Desmon replied, dodging the interest of the very ones he'd been courting earlier, a blow to Kiyohime's pride.

"Then just die already, you bastard!"

Ichika got up and attacked alongside Itsuki and Miku, but Desmon only pressed his foot harder against Nino's stomach.

"That trick won't work twice, idiot."

Desmon intercepted Miku with a gut punch, following it with a sidekick to Itsuki.

"Tch, you're one hell of a stubborn bastard." Ichika cursed, stopping just in time to avoid his next blow.

"Do I look like I enjoy being covered in blood? This uniform is borrowed, and now it's in shreds. Who's going to pay me back for it...?" He sighed in frustration.

Every strike Desmon landed came with backlash, further staining his already torn shirt with blood.

Luckily, his pants remained intact.

"I see..." Ichika moved her arms, emphasizing her voluptuous chest. "This is what all guys are interested in, right~?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"If you want, I'd let you touch them~." She said, approaching slowly.

"This isn't some hidden-camera show, is it?" Desmon glanced around, searching for the camera.

"Why do you say that?" She tilted her head innocently.

"Because your acting is terrible. No one would believe it."

Without hesitation, he kicked Ichika in the stomach, using the momentum to spin mid-air and deliver a kick to Miku and Itsuki, who had tried to attack him from behind.

"I already told you, that trick won't work twice. Didn't you hear me?"

"I thought you were just an idiot, but you've got some damn regeneration. Why don't you just die already?" Nino stood up and walked straight toward him.

"I doubt dying will be that easy for me. Besides, don't you ever get tired of trying to buy time while the others regenerate?"

Kiyohime's control had a flaw. Whenever the girls' bodies were injured, she needed to momentarily focus her energy on healing them, creating opportunities for Desmon to strike.

Because of this, Desmon began hitting each of them harder, forcing Kiyohime's mind to struggle to keep up with all of them at once.

"Was it that obvious?" Nino's smug attitude suggested she wasn't bothered by his discovery.

"Even an idiot would've figured it out eventually."

"Well, that explains how you managed to."

"That's a low blow… but it's not the first time a girl's insulted me, so I'm used to it." Paying her no more attention, Desmon approached Nino.

The fight was absurd; Kiyohime could regenerate the girls while Desmon could regenerate himself. The battle would inevitably become a war of attrition. But since Desmon didn't possess a demonic aura, Kiyohime couldn't predict how long he could last, whereas her demonic energy wasn't limitless.

"One more step, and this girl goes to hell." Nino held her claws against her own throat.

"So that's how you're going to play, huh?"

Having cornered her, Desmon had expected Kiyohime to resort to this.

"You're a damn monster, I'll give you that; happily beating up these girls while having fun. Psycho. Still, I possess four bodies; losing one won't change a thing. But I don't think that's an option for you, is it, hunter-kun~?"

"You're stalling to let the others escape while you hold me here, aren't you?"

Desmon could feel the girls' presence moving to nearby apartments.

Kiyohime couldn't fully control them if they got too far away, so she had chosen deception.

"You're not as dumb as you look." Nino gave him a superior smile. "So, it's your choice: go after the others and let this one die, or stay here with me while they escape."

"Hmmm, option A is terrible, and option B has its charms but isn't appealing. So I'll go with option C."

-Option C?

Before Nino could process what he meant, Desmon disappeared from her sight. A second later, pain exploded across her face as Desmon's fist struck her squarely. To keep her from flying away, he grabbed her by the ankle and slammed her into the ground.

"Wait...what are you doing...?" Nino's voice wavered, her nerves evident.

"The girls' father was clear; if there's no way to save them, I'm to give them a quick death." With that, Desmon grabbed Alastor from beneath the rubble of the shattered door.

"You're insane! Their father would never allow this!"

Desmon's choice flipped Kiyohime's plans on their head. If he started killing them one by one, only one body would remain, and once that one was destroyed, Kiyohime herself would perish.

Kiyohime never imagined Desmon would go this far. From the beginning, he seemed intent on saving the girls, but she'd clearly misjudged him.

"Losing four daughters to save one; that's a drastic choice, but I respect it. That's what a father would do." He said solemnly, his expression hardening.

"No! Get away from me!!!"

Nino tried crawling away, but her terror was genuine, and it made her clumsy.

"I'm a demon hunter; did you really think I go around rescuing girls? Go find yourself a damn prince!"

"You wouldn't dare..."

-Huh?

Nino couldn't even finish her sentence before Desmon's blade swung toward her. A second later, her vision shifted to Ichika's body.

''He did it, he really killed her! There's no time. We need to regroup and get out of here.''

The girls scattered between the first and second floors of the adjacent apartments.

One of Kiyohime's disadvantages was her unstable state; if her main mind was disturbed, it became harder to control the others. And after witnessing Desmon decapitate Nino, her mind was in chaos.

"Are we playing hide-and-seek now? That was one of my favorite games as a kid."

Ichika could hear Desmon's voice approaching the apartment she was hiding in.

-Relax. It's impossible for him to have killed her. He must be trying to trick you…

That thought vanished when Kiyohime, from her hiding spot, caught a glimpse of Desmon. He was holding a sword, dripping with blood as if it had just sliced through flesh.

-Who the hell is this guy? He's insane!

At first, Kiyohime dismissed him as just another human hunting demons; a fairly common thing in Japan. She didn't think much of it until she realized Desmon was a demon himself. That alone was alarming, but even then, he didn't seem to be after the girls. Now, however, everything had changed.

"Where are you hiding? Come on, don't be shy. I promise I'll only cut off your head." He said with a wide grin, scanning the surroundings and focusing on the various objects scattered across the apartment floor.

"Looks like you had fun with the previous tenants too. In that case, I've changed my mind; I'll make your death slow and painful!"

Those words only unsettled Kiyohime further, plunging her mental state into deeper chaos, leaving her unable to switch between the other girls.

Ichika held her breath as Desmon drew closer to the closet she was hiding in.

"Hmm, I guess you're not here. Plenty of apartments left to check…"

Slowly, Desmon exited the apartment, his footsteps growing fainter as he disappeared.

With Desmon gone, Ichika could finally breathe again.

-The other two are already doomed. I'll use them as bait...

"Found you!"

Just as Ichika sighed in relief, the wall behind her shattered. A hand grabbed her by the head and slammed her into the ground.

"You bastard…"

"Hehe!"

Desmon pinned her against the wall with a kick.

At this point, the roles had entirely reversed. The girls, once the hunters, had become the hunted; picked off one by one by Desmon.

If the police showed up now, he'd be the obvious suspect, looking every bit the deranged slasher from a horror movie.

"As I promised, I'll take my time with you. Though, since you'll just keep switching bodies, it's pointless. I'll save the final girl for a little date with me."

Desmon raised Alastor high above Ichika's head.

"Wait…!"

Kiyohime's vision shifted. She was now in Itsuki's body, hiding on the second floor.

-This is bad. I don't have time to deal with him.

Itsuki quickly dashed toward the window, smashing through it and tumbling to the ground below.

"Did the weather forecast predict a chance of falling teenagers today?"

"What...?"

Desmon was already outside, waiting for her.

"I'm more of an indoor person."

Before Itsuki could react, Desmon struck her with the back of his fist, sending her flying back into one of the apartments.

"You're insane!"

"Says the one who massacred everyone living here. How ironic." He smirked.

"You didn't even hesitate to kill those girls. Tell me, which one of us is the real demon?"

Her provocations fell on deaf ears.

"Well, I'm pretty sure the handsome white-haired guy isn't." He said with feigned modesty.

Few things truly infuriated Desmon, and the rest of the insults were just meaningless words to him.

-I've got one last chance… It's now or never!

Accepting the inevitable fate of this body, Kiyohime lunged at Desmon, only to see Alastor's blade rapidly closing in. Her vision shifted again. She now found herself in a room with old furniture and bloodstains left behind by the previous residents.

-Why did I have to run into this lunatic?

Now in Miku's body, the last one still alive, Kiyohime began calculating how to escape from Desmon.