Chapter 45: Spring

Scarlet fell through the rift, as she was now falling through the air. She noticed her location had changed, she went to use her Nevermore wings to glide through the air for an easy landing. But Queen showed up from behind her, with a smirk on her face. Queen stabbed Scarlet through the stomach.

"I can't have you cheating." Queen spoke smirking, she pulled her sword out and then stabbed Scarlet again with it. "I'll just have to put you down for now." She snapped her fingers as Scarlet's appearance reverted back to her normal self. "You could say, just like Shido. I can have any power I want, except... I don't need a Shido to do my dirty work." 

Scarlet growled as she coughed up blood, she turned her head to look back at Queen. "Are you implying something? Are you saying that you've found an alternate timeline?"

Queen snickered as she pulled her sword out once again. "Perhaps." She then put her foot onto Scarlet's back and pushed her down with enough strength to send her hurdling through the air. "That'll be something for you to think about, when the devils of this world, and the devil hunters find you and have their way with you." She snickered again before vanishing.

Scarlet gritted her teeth and crashed right into the middle of Japan, creating a meteor sized crater. The impact caused a small quake, but to the humans and whatever devils were hiding from the devil hunters, it felt like a massive one. The alarms on the cars went off as some of the power lines and buildings collapsed. One person in particular slowly walked over to the crater. A member of special division four, Kobeni Higashiyama. She had been out in town doing a devil hunt job for Makima, of course she wasn't alone. It just seemed like she was. Her partner in crime was Himeno, she had found the devil they were looking for. However, with the sudden shock from Scarlet crashing into the center of Japan, the devil had gotten away.

"W-What in the?" Kobeni stuttered a little as she knelt down and peered into the crater. The nervous woman seemed to have spotted Scarlet in the crater, her legs were sticking up out of the ground as her head and upper body had seemed to be in the ground, this oddly felt familiar to Scarlet. The Grimm girl could tell someone was nearby, well aside from only smelling what was underground and around her. 

"You find something?" Himeno asked as she walked over with her hands in her pockets, she raised an eyebrow seeing crater and Scarlet. "Well, what do we have here? Is it another devil?"

Kobeni wasn't too sure herself, she was about to say something, but Himeno jumped in and slid down the wall of the crater. Once she was fully in, she grabbed Scarlet's left leg and yanked her out. "What a strange looking girl.." She turned her head towards Kobeni. "Did you happen to see where she came from? Or what caused her to fall from the sky, which I'm guessing is how this all happened."

Kobeni shook her head a little. "N-No, I didn't... there weren't any signs of a plane passing over head.." 

The citizens around them began to mumble as some of them gasped loudly, Kobeni was confused as to why they were doing that. Her eyes widened in shock. "H-Hi-Himeno..."

Himeno raised an eyebrow up. "What is it Kobeni?"

Scarlet's eyes slowly opened as she glanced at the two women and then at the citizens. They all weren't shocked about seeing her regain consciousness. There was a flower devil towering over them. It's body was that of a regular flower, it's face was like a sunflower. While it looked like an overgrown flower, it shook its head sending out some paralysis stun powder. Like pollen, it had spread within the general area. Falling upon the onlookers, Scarlet scoffed and broke free from Himeno's grasp.

The paralysis stun powder was snowing down quicker than Scarlet had anticipated, she used her semblance to stop time. She wasn't going to let herself get paralyzed, she gripped Black Rose and swung her scythe at the flower's stem, the blade of Black Rose cut through the stem like it was butter. The Grimm girl grinned widely as she continued to swing her scythe at the flower devil and had cut it into tiny pieces, she blinked as time resumed. 

For a moment the flower devil seemed to be unfazed but then blood spewed from it in every part of its body as it fell apart into pieces. Scarlet snickered and raised her foot up, she stomped down on the pieces, crushing them under her foot. Everyone around was still stunned with the paralysis powered and couldn't move, not that Scarlet mattered if they could move or not. She turned her gaze at Kobeni and Himeno.

"I'd love to stay and chat but..." Scarlet spoke as she turned her gaze to the onlookers who had also been caught in the paralysis powered. "Well, I have a feast to attend to. I am very hungry right now, so if you two manage to find a way to free yourselves.. don't let the door hit you on the way out of your freedom." She smirked widely and ran towards the first person that was nearby.

~~~~

The street was covered in blood and body parts, Scarlet licked her lips of what blood was left on her lips. She had had a feast, despite having a full belly from her last meal with Erza. Her hunger had increased, she sat on top of a corpse idly munching on an arm. Her nose twitched as a new smell had made itself known to her.

"Well... this is embarrassing." Aki spoke as he kicked over a corpse, he knelt down to get a view of who it was. "I assume you've done all this, if you did... well. I won't let you have your way with the rest of the planet. So what exactly are you? A devil? A Fiend? Or perhaps you're a new type the devil hunters have yet to discover?"

Scarlet took notice of the man, she tossed the arm aside while she crossed her legs. "I may have, but they were all paralyzed. Not by me of course, but a flower. If you're with those two over there, then by all means..take them away, but if you're here for a fight. Well, I'll just have to make quick work of the three of you."

Aki didn't seem amused by her threat, he sighed and looked over at Kobeni and Himeno. "Yeah, they're with me." He turned his gaze back to Scarlet. "You still didn't answer my question, what exactly are you? There aren't any files on new types. If you are one, then did you come with the devil flower?"

"I don't know if you're just dumb or you just want to hear yourself talk." Scarlet spoke and jumped up to her feet, she twirled Black Rose around as the blood that coated the blade of her scythe, flew off. "I guess it's time to play with my prey.. I was starting to get bored anyway."

Aki cocked an eyebrow up but sighed. "Fine, I'll play with you. But don't think I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl." He drew his sword out slowly, he kept his gaze on Scarlet. "Still haven't told me who or what you are."

Scarlet snickered a little. "Why would I need to tell you? When you'll be dead meat!" She lunged towards Aki as she swung Black Rose at him, she scoffed when she noticed that he had blocked her attack with his sword. "Tch." She then smirked and bashed her head against his before jumping back, it was a good thing she did because a chainsaw came down in the middle of her and Aki's clash. "Oh? Friend of yours I assume?"

Aki was silent, he glanced over to Denji and then back over to Scarlet. "I had it under control Denji."

"Yeah well, Power volunteered to come watch and fight. All this blood and murder... it makes my stomach turn." Denji spoke as his chainsaws revved up.

Scarlet tilted her head to the side seeing him, she started to laugh at the sight before her eyes. "Oh ho ho, a chainsaw hybrid? So that's one thing I can mark off my bucket list of weird encounters." She grinned widely and licked her lips. "I do have to ask, what do you taste like? Bitter? Metallic? Both?"

"The hell?" Denji asked confused. "Who the hell is she? Or what is she?"

Aki rolled his eyes at the question Denji had just asked him. "I've been asking that same question myself, but she doesn't seem to want to answer it."

"And I never will." Scarlet spoke with a cold tone and a sinister grin. "Now, are we going to get to the action, or....do I need to attack you two first? Because I will do just that." She gripped Black Rose and eyed the two in front of her. 

Denji looked towards Aki and then back to Scarlet, he started to chuckle a little bit. "You wouldn't even last ten seconds against us on your own."

~~~

Scarlet crashed through some buildings, she groaned and rubbed her head. "Son of a bitch!" She got up and gritted her teeth. She glanced down seeing a pipe sticking out from her stomach. 

"You're going to die if you yank that out." Aki spoke with his sword pointed at her, the fox devil head snarled as it glared at Scarlet. Aki stood off to the side of it and kept his gaze on Scarlet.

Scarlet smirked, she grabbed the pipe and yanked it out from her stomach, she coughed up blood but the wound slowly healed up. "Good as new, now....you were saying I was gonna die? You should probably eat your words!"

Aki snapped his fingers as the fox devil head lunged towards Scarlet, the Grimm girl used her semblance to stop time and moved out of the way. She then proceeded to make her way towards Aki, standing in front of him for a moment before taking his sword from his hands. "Don't mind if I do." She smirked and swung the sword at Aki's hand, slicing it off before aiming for the other hand with Black Rose, swinging her scythe at his other hand and sliced it clean off. She then took a moment to think about something before stabbing Aki's sword through his gut. Then she took Black Rose and swung it at his legs, slicing through them like butter. Once she had done that, Scarlet moved out of the way and into the shadows. She blinked allowing time to resume.

Aki yelled in pain, he felt his hands fall off, followed by the sharp pain from his sword in his stomach, and then the separation of his legs. "What the....what the hell?" He fell over face first as the sword was pushed deeper into his body and out through his back. He coughed up blood as he saw Scarlet slowly approaching him. "How in the? When did you move?"

Scarlet smirked as she knelt down. "Aw, did you miss me? Listen, there's something you humans can't seem to understand." She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up. "The number one thing you humans don't seem to get the knowledge of. I can't die." She gripped his throat tightly. "And you know what else? This is your end as a hunter." She twisted the sword in his stomach and yanked it out before tossing it aside. "I wonder, where your friend is....the chainsaw guy...Denji was it? Where is he?"

The sound of chainsaws revving up could be heard The Grimm girl smirked as she turned her head to see Denji. "Put him down!"

Scarlet laughed and looked back at Aki. She opened her mouth and took a big bite out of him, tearing his flesh from his body and started to consume him completely. Denji watched in horror, he yelled and charged in blindly at Scarlet. "You bitch!" 

Scarlet grinned and dodged out of the way, she chuckled and licked the blood from her lips. "I still have a thirst for more, so where is this other friend of yours... Power? Is she lurking around as well? Or perhaps she's just watching from the sidelines, waiting to watch you fail." She kicked Denji back, she picked Black Rose up by kicking her scythe up and grabbed it. "I'd love to stay and chat, but..." She sniffed the air as she was picking up the scent of blood in the air, she didn't know it was Power using her own blood to form a weapon, but she could still smell it. "I have a good nose for sweet things." She spun around Denji and chopped him the back of his neck hard. Knocking him unconscious. She then sprouted her Nevermore wings and flew off into the air, leaving the scene of the fight.