"Thank you for your patronage!" The cheerful Junes clerk called out as Makoto gathered his bagged goods and departed from the line of customers. He nodded his head at the boisterous female and proceeded to leave the supermarket area of the local Junes, not feeling the eyes watching him from a distance as he made his way to the exit of the store.
With one hand, he replaced his headphones and continued to listen to the music he was most familiar. Night was soon to fall, he noticed, as the street lights flickered on around him, casting eerie shadows that seemed to writhe much like the enemies he faced during the Ascension of Tartarus with SEES.
So caught up in his thoughts, the bluenette did not notice as a light purple trench coat wearing man made his way down the same sidewalk he found himself walking along. Closer and closer the man walked until their shoulders roughly collided with one another, causing the Wild Card to lose his grip on his groceries.
Reaching up with a single hand, Makoto removed the headphone around his left ear before speaking to the man who seemed to stop in his tracks after their collision.
"My apologies." The bluenette murmured, reaching down for his groceries which had spilled across the concrete, "I was not paying attention."
The man did not respond, instead fully turning his body to stare at the young man he had just bumped into. After a few seconds of silence, the bluenette cocked an eyebrow in curiosity at the mans apparent animosity, as he could feel the intent to attack roiling from the man in waves. When the fedora wearing man continued to remain silent, Makoto shrugged his shoulders and turned to depart, having finished gathering up the spilled ingredients.
It was only his sharp instincts that saved him from being impaled upon the spear that roared passed the space he previously occupied. A flexing of his hand caused the Blade of Lucifer to appear within his grasp while his groceries once more clattered to the ground. He wasn't quite sure how he summoned the blade to him seeing as he always had to carry his weapon, but he was thankful that the deadly weapon still responded to his touch as the beautifully crafted blade began to glow a baleful crimson.
He would question his instincts and abilities at a later time, he had more pressing issues to deal with at present.
"So you ARE a filthy devil." The unnamed man murmured, watching as the bluenette settled himself into a readied stance, "I was hoping that energy I felt wasn't my imagination."
"You are mistaken." Makoto stated simply, eying the man while readying himself for combat. He did not summon a Persona nor fire off any spells, worried about collateral damage and any innocent life that might get caught in the cross fire. "Cease this foolishness, I have no qualms with you."
"That is where you are wrong, devil. You see, you exist, and that is a problem for a Fallen like myself. Another bonus is that you are all alone with no peerage and you haven't used a summoning circle, making you a stray correct?"
Makoto fought the urge to scoff at the mans assumptions, "I am Human. This will be my last warning, stop attacking me and go away."
The fedora wearing man threw his head back and laughed, truly laughed, at Makoto's statement. "You are also a liar, it seems. No human gives off such a foul energy, hell… even most devils don't have such a dark taint that I can feel from you." Another spear formed in the mans hand, glowing a bright blue that looked positively dull in comparison to the blade once wielded by the Morning Star clenched in Makoto's left hand.
The man lunged forward, stabbing with the spear three times, though each time was deflected with skillful strokes of the Morning Stars blade. Makoto pressed his advantage after the third stroke he parried caused the man to overcompensate, the baleful blade biting into the right side of the fedora wielder.
First blood was in Makotos favor.
"You were warned." Makoto stated with a firm tone before landing a heavy knee the man in the same spot he just cut into. the bluenette was glad that Akihiko took the time to teach him the basics of hand to hand, mainly in the form of a mixture of kick boxing and Muay Thai.
The fedora wearing man roared in pain before leaping into the air. It was with wide eyes that Makoto watched as massive black wings erupted from the mans back, allowing him to remain in the air while Makoto remained grounded.
"You will pay for that, you little shit!" The man roared, flinging spear after spear at the Wild Card, though the boy continued to dodge left and right around them. Finally, the bluenette tripped up on a large chunk of concrete after quite a bit of time dodging, causing a spear to bury itself in his chest, directly through his heart and all the way through his back.
Coughing globs of blood up, Makoto looked down at the spear planted in his chest before reaching for it shakily.
"My name is Dohnaseek, and it was your fate to die this day, you filthy stray devil!" The now named Dohnaseek roared in triumph as he finally scored a direct hit, and a fatal one at that. The man thought the fight was finally over and prepared to leave the scene until he felt a presence settle upon the battlefield.
Said presence continued to grow in intensity until it grew to a level that caused the fallen angel to fall from the sky after his wings refused to continue beating. Primal fear began to grip his heart as the heavy presence refused to stop growing in intensity. Struggling to breath, Dohnaseek lifted his trembling head from the concrete to find the source of the presence, only to lock eyes with the blue haired boy he was sure he murdered.
The circular golden eyes that stared back at him glowed brightly through the shadows that seemed to cling to the boy's skin while multiple sets of coffins began to appear around him, acting as if they were wings. The sounds of rattling chains filled the once silent streets before they erupted from the ground and began to coil protectively around the bluenette. The light spear piercing through his heart was absorbed into his body and the wound began to stitch itself back together in an unnatural display of healing.
The Blade of Lucifer disappeared in a shower of sparks before the hand that had previously held the blade was aimed in Dohnaseeks direction. Black seals began to appear in the air around the raised hand, each glowing the same sickly shade of blackish purple as the wielder of the magic circle etching itself in the air, causing the fear Dohnaseek felt to skyrocket again after reading the invocations present within the circles.
Oh no… nononoNoNONONONO! Dohnaseek screamed to himself as realization finally dawned upon him. Only one being could summon such magic, only one being could wield the black powers of Death in such a way, and that was Death Itself.
The Fallen Angel had not always been a fighter. In fact, he once held a very high position in heaven for someone with only a single set of wings. As the Record Keeper of the Lower Realms, it was Dohnaseeks job to know everything there was to know about foreign pantheons, and it was this knowledge that caused him to realize his folly.
Dohnaseek had attacked one of the very beings that had existed for as long as his Father, the very being that even his Father felt trepidation towards angering. The being that has existed as long as Life, for as long as the concept of Infinity and Dreams.
It was the raw panic that allowed the Fallen to regain control of his body long enough to flee with his tail tucked between his legs, and just in time.
"Mudoon."
The pillars of purple light that erupted from the seal tore through the air and narrowly missed the fallen angel as he dodge rolled to the left, face first in to a tree. The grass around the area began to wilt rapidly as the tree Dohnaseek impacted shattered from both the decay from the deathly attack that was released in its area and the force behind the body that hit it.
Makoto watched with dispassionate eyes as the man picked himself up and continued to flee, this time unabated. The chains and coffins that surrounded him began to break apart into pieces before those pieces decayed into nothingness, leaving the blue haired teenager alone in the middle of a slightly destroyed street once more.
The deathly miasma that came to the surface of his skin began to recede and his eyes returned to their normal shade of yellowish gold. As if sensing the danger passed, the street lights that flickered out when the fighting began once again became luminous, lighting the area once more.
With a sigh, the bluenette walked back to his previous position to gather up his groceries so he could head home for the night. The streets are surprisingly clear… Makoto frowned as he made absolutely sure he was alone in the area, something that made no sense to him.
He could have sworn he felt a presence hiding in the tree line not far from where he was standing, though he saw neither hide nor hair of anything that would be a threat to him.
As he disappeared down the street, a white haired figure with wide golden eyes watched in fear and some amount of awe as his figure receded into the dark of night.