Stray devils were a pest in places where devils dwelled. From the conception of the evil pieces system, they became far worse than what any had imagined. Rating games often encouraged devils to seek the strongest champions to join their peerages, to be reincarnated as a devil and enhance their latent and untapped powers. Oftentimes, their personality was overlooked for their martial, mental, or magical power. Any sort of moral compass had never played into the equation, and thus their hubris had released an evil they had never thought would come into fruition.
By the time the devils realized the danger in giving out power to those unscrupulous and insane, the damage had been done. Hundreds of thousands of devils who held neither loyalty nor understanding towards their leaders, either sneaking out or killing them, had been released to the world unchecked. All those who didn't, and knew something like this would happen, were ordered that all stray devils be killed on sight, and strict warnings were given to all those who held evil pieces. They feared for the worst, with such loose cannons presenting a very real risk of unveiling the carefully made masquerade they had nurtured for millennia.
Still, there remain devils either incredibly stupid and daring, thus putting the hefty risk of mutiny far from their minds. The world of devils was such that prestige meant everything, and the most prestige could only be gained through one method; rating games. Essentially being duels between two devils involving an incredibly elaborate life sized chess board and members of a devil's peerage representing the pieces, this sort of tournament remained the most consistent form of promotion in the world of devils. Although there existed alternatives to rise up the meritocratic system that devils had, they were either too tedious, or required warfare which devils had not experienced in hundreds of years. Thus, this left the dumb and dumber to pick up the scraps and take risks that should have never been there in the first place.
One such stray was walking merrily towards the Hyoudou residence, attracted by the incredibly delectable smell of the child sleeping inside. Like a massive spider, the eight-legged and six-eyed monster scuttled through the house. It crawled not unlike the insect it resembled so unsettlingly, its corrupted flash swishing and mashing against each other with every little motion.
Once, the creature had been an ordinary human being. Perhaps it might have been beautiful or handsome, but now, no such statements could be made. Paper-thin flesh stretched over its many bones, blotchy rashes coating its eerily shiny and pale skin, formed from months away from sunlight. Its flesh, clinging so close to the bone was ragged and leathery. Two pairs of extra arms erupted from its torso, its legs becoming so deformed and nubby that they were indistinguishable from its other appendages. Instead of feet, it had yet another pair of hands, forcing it to crawl along the ground like an ape.
It hungered for flesh, blood and magic. Uncontrolled demonic taint had reduced it to a cursed state where it endlessly hungered but could never be sated, not unlike the walking dead. At night it rose from its hiding places, and hunted for unsuspecting victims. It was a nocturnal predator, for it feared the light of the sun. It had fled to this backwater town where there were few devils—though it didn't know or otherwise care about the more important devils situated here in the first place—and even fewer exorcists. The abandoned ruins of a church was the only evidence that there were any clergy here to begin with. It thought of this location to be safer, a fact that would bite it's ass in more ways than one.
The previous night, the devil had awoken to taste sweet, delicious mana floating through the air. The transformation that the young Hyoudou that day had created a long line of energy dotting the road to their home from the park, leading it towards them. It had observed a sleeping girl seeping mana slowly and consistently, like honey pouring out of a jar. It had never tasted anything like it, and its simple mind could only think that perhaps this time for sure its eternal need could be quenched.
Despite the lack of rational and sentient thought in most stray devils, something inside it had been convinced that other devils would be attracted to the mana simply bleeding off the girl. It had to hurry, but in its other attempts, it had retreated from the household when it became quite clear the girl wasn't going to fall asleep just yet. It, being a primal cesspool of everything bad about devilkind, lacked patience or especially tolerance for long waits, and would break down in anxiety as the hours would go on. Tonight however, it would be ready.
Even as its instincts screamed harder for it to stop, and considered the possibility that what they had targeted would be the end of them, it persevered. Creatures that emitted large amounts of mana had to be using it for some reason, whether it'd be gathering it up for a ritual or to empower themselves,the monster didn't care. 'The risk was worth it,' or whatever equivalent term existed for such a being. It went past two sleeping humans, thinking them as nothing more than desserts.
Once, it had slammed open doors and windows, crashing into its prey and attempting to devour them whole. Discolored blotches of regenerated flesh testified why that would no longer be a reliable tactic, it barely coming out alive at numerous occasions. Magic users or magical beings were no mere weaklings, and if it had to do it this time around, it needed to do it quickly, quietly and efficiently. Carefully opening the door, it entered the room of its target. Like a shark tasting blood in the water, the devil grew less and less restrained, its many legs trembling in anticipation.
Its maw churned with poisonous saliva, a slow killer for sure. One drop landed on the girl it stood on top of, the colorless droplet eating away at her skin, a red blossom growing where it had landed. From there, a hint of satisfaction observed from its behavior. The sleeping girl's fitful sleep worsened, her face scrunching up in discomfort. The paralytic properties of the liquid numbed a victim's nerves, unnoticeable in smaller quantities. The stray devil opened its jaw wide, two incisors slick with venom preparing to sink deeply into the girl.
A small fist lashed out from the once sleeping girl, grabbing onto one of the monster's many arms. A horrible snapping sound made itself clear, some blood lightly pouring from the joints. The poor sod looked into the would-be-victim's eyes, those lacking both mercy or compassion and accompanied by an expression of great annoyance. Raising another hand, a gilded rifle appeared, readily equipped on the girl who had prepared for an ambush already, though expecting one of the more mundane sort instead. The rifle itself was an antique, a musket from the 1500s called an arquebus, describing it so she didn't have to describe it to you in any further detail. The girl twisted her weapon just in time to jam it onto the monster's throat, as well as slapping its stupidly smug mug away from her. The girl was just about to pull the trigger, when she suddenly realized something in mild annoyance, stopping herself from simply blowing its head off.
The stray devil took advantage of the pause, whipping its other arms at the girl. All the while it was trying and failing to dislodge the tube currently stuck in its gullet. The girl dropped the devil's broken limb, reaching down to the right side of her bed and finding nothing. The girl sighs, but not before simply pointing another gun that appeared out of nowhere towards the abomination. She was smiling now, the smile of a devil. Gone was the appearance of fear or discomfort, an aura of killing intent oozing from her smirk. It was a miasma of bloodlust and hate so thick, it felt almost tangible.
"What the hell are you?" The girl asked, narrowing her eyes in disgust. She scratched her chin with a finger in deep thought, before intercepting another claw and breaking the arm it was attached to. The devil would have screeched in pain, but the rifle up its throat sorta limited the scope of its vocal cords, turning the otherwise eerie sound into a whimper. It swayed and fell forward onto the bed, as its attempts to remove the gun would cover it in its vile fluids. The girl's head leaned on one side in curiosity, as it would move slowly to interact with it.
The scene was very much like a curious child breaking apart the legs of an ant or just about any other insect. The girl toyed with the devil, not fighting seriously in the slightest. She seemed more interested in the weak regeneration the creature exhibited than its weakening attempts to kill her, which slowly began to wane as time would go by.
The stray devil's adrenaline fueled anger had been replaced by a feeling it hadn't felt in a long while; true fear. It feared of its prey's overwhelming power, the pain it had felt every day since its conception multiplying by the second just by being near her. And especially, it began to fear of death. Too many of its limbs had been broken to escape, and all attempts to create an advantage had either failed or made the situation worse for it. The stray devil was an ambush predator, a creature that relied on surprise attacks, an occasional advantage and nothing else. The poison had been seemingly effective when she was sleeping, but now the venom vaporized the moment it hit her skin instead of the other way around.
The girl pressed her ear to the wall, listening intently. Upon turning back to the cowering creature, she opened the window and lifted it with little effort. Walking towards the devil who was now attempting to play dead with very little success, she tosses the paperweight outside. The sheer malevolence radiating from her had vanished, leaving her an ordinary girl once more. She followed after it, but not before taking her hat with her.