Return of the Cards of the King, Part 2

"You've gotten stronger…Luis Tramontana…" Ace grunts through grit teeth as he struggles against my steel blade.

"So it seems…Ace…" I grunt back, also through grit teeth as I struggle against Ace's bamboo blade.

"It's two on four, Luis Tramontana, do you like your odds?" King asks me with a smirk.

"Normally yes, nut against you too, I'm not too sure," I answer, still with my teeth grit as I remain struggling against Ace's bamboo sword. "But it's not the odds that are turning me off, it's the fact that I've got people fighting alongside me."

"Oh? And what do you mean by that?" King asks with a smirk.

"I'VE VOWED TO USE MY KATANA ONLY TO KILL ACE ONE ON ONE!"

A rush of dark blue Cursed Power explodes out of my body, forcing Ace to retreat off of me, as I activate my Blue Demon form.

Ace activates a Cursed Power Burst of his own, and his light blue Cursed Power battles against my dark blue Cursed Power, both of our Cursed Powers laced with infinite malice and bloodlust.

"Amazing…" Lycan marvels.

"I've never felt Cursed Power this intense before!" Ivy cries.

"Is that…really the same Luis we once knew…?" Ralph asks.

"Impressive. Three years ago, only the Cursed Power of Slayer Hahci was enough to rival my own, and now, here you are," Ace says to me.

"I've come a long way," I growl.

"At first, we were going to kill those three Slayers over there since they've heard all our plans, but now that you're here, I'll let them live," King begins to say. "I would very much like for you to hear our plans, Blue Demon."

"Especially because we were about to send a message to your house to rile you up, anyway," Ace adds, causing my eyes to widen.

"What does that mean?" I growl as I allow my Cursed Power Burst to subside back into my body.

"You shouldn't leave your home unguarded when you have enemies, Luis Tramontana," Ace replies as he allows for his Cursed Power Burst to subside back into his body as well. "Let this be a valuable lesson to you."

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" I roar.

Ace is silent.

"Why do you think only Ace and I came after your three friends over there?" King laughs, causing my eyes to widen even further.

"RALPH! IVY! LYCAN! GET OUTTA HERE, GO REPORT WHATEVER YOU LEARNED TO THE CHAIRMAN!" I order as I reinforce my entire body with Cursed Power and wrap my waist and below in wind.

"Right, but what will you do?" Ralph asks.

"I NEED TO GO HOME!" I shout before taking to the air, using the tornado around my legs to fly home, as fast as wind.

***

Eventually, I make it home and allow for my tornado to dissipate, landing on the ground before my house, which has gone completely up in flames, with smoke billowing from the top. Firemen and police officers surround my house, desperate to put out the flames.

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" I scream to the closest police officer.

"Sir, this is officially police business, you can't-'' the officer begins to say, but shuts up when I flash him my Pro Slayer License. "We think it was an attempted murder, or an arson assault," the police officer explains.

I then spot Gabby and my mom huddled together under some blankest in the back of a firetruck, sobbing to themselves while my dad lingers around them, looking weary with his katana drawn.

"MOM! GABBY!" I cry as I rush over to the two, holding them tightly in my arms. "What happened, are you alright?!"

"Luis…you're here…" my mom sobs.

Gabby is too busy crying to speak.

"We don't know what happened. We were eating lunch, and then the house went up in flames," my dad explains, before dropping to the ground on his hands and knees. "I tried to project them all in your steed, Luis, I'm sorry. I'm a horrible father and husband…"

My eyes widen when I notice something else. "Wh-where's Mr Kittles?" I stammar, my voice growing shaky.

"I'm sorry, Luis…I'm sorry…" my dad sobs.

"WHERE'S MY FUCKING CAT?!" I scream.

"Mr Kittles ran away when the flames first began to spread. From what we heard, it sounded like he was trying to confront the intruder to buy us some time to escape," my dad explains in between sobs.

"He didn't make it, Luis, I'm sorry," my mom sobs.

Gabby wails as she opens up her arms, revealing the bloody, scorched body of a black cat, which she hugged tightly in her arms.

"Mr Kittles…" I softly say as I drop to my knees in front of Gabby. I gingerly scoop the cat up in my arms and clutch him tightly to my chest. "Why…" I say, and then I begin sobbing. I wail, and I cry and I sob, burying the corpse of my cat into my chest and crying my eyes out.

My best friend. Dead.

This seems to happen a lot.

"Mr Kittles…" I sob, taking one last look at the fallen body of my best friend. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

Eventually, my mom and Gabby were escorted to the hospital. I buried Mr Kittles in the lawn of my charred-up backyard. We won't be living here anymore, I don't know where we'll go. But this was Mr Kittle's home, and this, it's where he'll be put to rest.

"You know what happened, don't you, Luis?" My dad asks me once I'm finished burying Mr Kittles.

"I do," I answer as I stab my shovel into the ground and turn around to face my father. "The Cards of the King. I don't know why, but Ace wanted to send me a message, he wanted me to confront them after attempting to kill my family by burning my house down, so that King can tell me their plans for opening up the portal to Hell, for whatever reason. It was supposed to look like an accident, like our stove caught on fire, or something, and only I was supposed to know the truth. I just foiled Ace's plan by confronting him before seeing my house ablaze."

"And what will you do now?" My dad asks.

"It's time…" I begin to say.

"To go after Mikey."

***

"OW, mother…please!" August pleads, but his mom doesn't listen. Her beatings are ferocious.

"What the Hell are ya' doin', Faime?" War asks as she struts into the room, watching as Famine -more commonly known as the International Professional Slayer Organization's head of the Demon Research Branch's Slayer Kurāken- tortures her children. Winter sits in the corner with her knees tucked into her chest, soaked in blood and sobbing to herself. "Don't we need these kids for our army?"

"Please, I have hundreds of artificially created half demons ready to attack the Slayer Organization Headquarters at my beckon call," Famine answers before turning back to August and resuming her beatings. August yelps in pain with each slash of her mighty claws. "August and Winter were merely the most promising of the group, but I have no use for toys that can't fulfill their purpose."

"Is it 'cause they lost to the Blue Demon?" War asks and she crosses her arms.

"Of course it is!" Famine snaps. "Because August and Winter lost, the Blue Demon is the Chairman's new half demon pawn, after he cast my August and Winter to the side!"

"We can at least still use August and Winter to fight, you know," War comments.

"We don't need them anymore," Famine replies as she turns around to face War and smirks. "Though of course, if they prove themselves in this upcoming battle, I will give them the motherly love that they once deserved and so desperately crave."

"What do you mean by that?" War asks as she raises an eyebrow at Famine.

"Oh, you can come in now!" Famine bellows as she turns and calls to the door behind her.

The door then opens, and a large, naked, androgynous human enters the room. At least…they look human. But then…their veins begin glowing a bright golden shine, causing War's eyes to widen.

 "I took some…creative liberties with this one after hearing how the Blue Demon was able to develop two Cursed Abilities," Famin explains. "Meet my master creation," Famine then smirks. "June, the Golden Demon."

***

"Did you call us here for the Pyromaniac Mission?" I ask as I step into the Chairman's office, with Ella, Grover, Jamie, and Austin walking in behind me. Standing at the Chairman's desk, are the members of Slayer Renzu's Squad, who all turn around to face us.

I would have preferred to mourn the loss of my best friend, Mr Kittles, for much, much longer, but after changing wind of the Cards of the King's plan, I forced myself out of my suffering to answer the Chairman's beckon call. If it gets me closer to killing Ace, I'll do anything.

"Not exactly," the Chairman answers. "But what you're hearing now, may lead to the upcoming Pyromaniac Mission."