Signs of War, Part 1

"I wonder what this is about?" Grover whispers as we take our seats in the back of the large auditorium in the Slayer Organization Headquarters. It feels like we haven't been here in a long, long while.

"Are you kidding?" Jamie snaps. "It's about the upcoming war!"

"You can't forget that we're pretty much the only ones who know about this," Austin adds.

Looking around, it seems like every single damn Pro Slayer and their mother has been called into this meeting. Junior Slayers, Squad Captains, the medical team, the Research Branch, Field Patrollers, everyone! Looking around I see a lot of familiar faces, like Slayer Renzu and her squad, my friend Kaze, Slayer Hakari, and some of my opponents in the Junior Slayer Tournament. Even Daniel has been called to this meeting, who sits besides us.

"Sorry, am I late?" A man asks as he barges into the room.

"DAD?!" I cry as I turn to face the man. "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm a Pro Slayer too, remember?" My dad answers as he takes his seat in the auditorium, sitting close to me while also giving me some distance to talk with my friends.

"So that's Luis' dad…" Grover mumbles.

"He looks just like him!" Ella exclaims.

"I've always imagined him…shorter," Austin adds.

I watch my dad with a raised eyebrow, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Daniel leering at him. "Is something up?" I ask.

"No, it's…nothing," Daniel answers before turning to face the stage at the front of the room.

A few murmurs and chatters escape the crowd, and after a few moments go by, the Chairman enters the stage, and everyone shuts up.

"The reason I have called you here is very important. I cannot stress enough that the reason you are here is the most important reason that I ever could call you all here, so I would like to ask you all to wait before I finish my speech to shout, or make noise, or ask questions," the Chairman says into his mic. "As of yesterday, the portal to Hell -the demon realm- was opened."

A wave of cries, shouts, and questions escape the crowd.

"Quiet down, quit down!" The Chairman snaps until the crowd goes silent. "Thank you," the Chairman replies once no one else is speaking. "In five days from now, three things will happen. The rulers of Hell, the Nine Circles of Hell, will enter through the portal to Hell into this world, followed by the hordes of demons. And lastly, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be returned to their former glory. As I learned yesterday, the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were already residing in our world. One of them being Slayer Kurāken, Famine. As for the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse, we don't know where they are, but we do know for sure that they are in our world. Now that the portal of Hell is opened, the Four horsemen of the Apocalypse's original strength will return to them. Over the next week, every last Pro Slayer, both seniors and juniors alike, will be preparing for war. Every last Pro Slayer will be fighting in the Second Demon-Human World War. Even I will be. We will determine your rolls for this war depending on your Cursed Abilities, so pay attention to your emails and don't go anywhere. As of today, you will be working non stop. Even when you are not working, you will still be working. That is all."

The crowd goes silent.

That is; until one brave soul raises a shaky hand.

"Yes?" The Chairman asks.

"Are we going to die…?" The "brave soul" sadly whimpers.

"Yeah?! What's up with that?!"

"I don't want to die!"

"I'm not willing to give my life for this organization!"

The crowd erupts in roars, questions, and complaints.

In response; the Chairman sighs, then taps on his mic, causing a hideous screeching noise to echo across the entire auditorium. This causes everyone in the audience to shut up, as we all wince and are forced to cover our ears with our hands (especially for those of us in the audience who are demons/half demons.)

"QUIET DOWN!" The Chairman roars, and this time; he sounds genuinely pissed off.

The crowd goes silent, yet again.

The Chairman takes a brief moment to observe the audience, studying the faces of each and every last Pro Slayer in the auditorium, before speaking again.

"Everyone has a reason to become a Pro Slayer. "Whether it be dreams of grandeur-" I look towards Grover.

"The thrill of the battle-"

I look towards Jamie

"Money-"

I look towards Austin.

"Protecting those who you care about-"

Ah, that one's me.

"Or even if you were roped into becoming a Pro Slayer by someone else!"

I look towards Ella.

"Everyone has a reason for becoming a Pro Slayer, even if you don't realize it," the Chairman continues. "I'm not asking yourselves to lay down your lives for this Organization or even humanity, and CERTAINLY not me. As the Chairman of the Slayer Organization…I will be the one to lay down my life for you. Without a second thought. But that's nor important right now. I'm not important right now. Not to your dreams as a Pro Slayer, and maybe not even to you personally. Lay down your lives for your family, your goals. Fight. If you want to become a great Slayer, then slay those demons and move up the ranks. If you are fighting for your families or friends or loved ones, then slay those demons to keep them safe."

"FIGHT FOR YOUR DREAMS!"

This time, the audience erupts in cheers and applause.

"Well I'll be damned," Austin smirks and he leans back in his seat. "The Chairman can give some motivating speeches when he wants to."

"I'LL DO IT!" GROVER CHEERS. "I'LL FIGHT FOR MY DREAMS AND KILL THE DEMONS TO PROTECT MY FRIENDS, MR CHAIRMAN SIR!"

Fighting your friends and family, eh? I guess that's why I'm here. Even if I don't want to die for this Organization, not even for humanity and CERTAINLY not for the Chairman, I'll slay those demons for friends and my family. The first day I met Nick, I was powerless as a demon tore down my street. But then Nick told me that I had power, the power to slay demons, the power to protect my family. And so, I became a Pro Slayer. I gained the minimal amount of power I needed to keep my family safe. But then I found friends. And at that point, I now needed to gain even more power, so that my friends didn't need to protect me and so that I could instead protect them. That is why I slay demons, that is why I gain power.

But Mikey…he's one friend that I can't seem to understand. What brought him to the point where he decided to open up the portal to Hell?! But like it or not…Mikey is still my friend. So as the only one strong enough to now…I'll stop hm.

Even if I have to die trying.

***

"MIKEY!" Directly after the Chairman's speech, I ran over to Mikeys shack of a home and headed inside.

"Mikey, where are you?!" I cry as I brandish a flashlight and search the dark shed.

It's empty.

All that remains are the various supplies that Mikey had lying around when he "lived" here.

"Dammit…where are you…?"

***

Meanwhile…

"Nice place," Mikey says to War as she leads him into an elevator and up to a penthouse on the top floor of one of New York City's most illustrious apartment buildings.

"Nice place?!" War asks as she turns and peers over her shoulder at Mikey. "This is the nicest city livin' accommodations that money can afford! This is the nicest! Especially for someone like you who grew up living in the extent of a garage!"

Mikey shrugs and rolls his eyes.

Eventually, the elevator dings, and War leads Mikey into the penthouse at last. Sitting in the living room area of the penthouse, are a man in a gray suit and a woman in a lab coat. Standing behind her are a bruised and bloodied August and Winter. Winter is silent as per usual, but August is far more timid and reserved than Mikey is used to seeing him.

The man wears a light gray suit jacket over a black dress shirt with light gray suit pants which are a little high at the ends, displaying the man's black socks. He has on a white tie and white gloves with white dress shoes and holds a black cane. He also wears a light gray dress hat which matches his suit with a black hat band going across.

"You're the old woman who wanted to dissect me, eh?" Mikey asks Famine. "I'm not good with remembering people, but I can at least memorize a psycho bitch like you."

"OLD WOMAN?!" Famine furiously cries as she jumps out of her seat.

"You take offense to that but not the "psycho bitch"?" Death snickers.

"AUGUST! WINTER!" Famine barks, causing her two half demon children to flinch. "Normally you two would rush to defend me, what's taking you so long?!"

"S-sorry, m-mother…" August stammers.

Winter whimpers.

"What's a Pro Slayer like you doing here?" Mikey asks, before turning to face August and Winter. "And what are you two doing here too, for that matter?"

"Mikey, sit down," Death orders, causing Mikey to turn and face him. "We'll explain everything."

"And who are you?" Mikey asks, causing Death to smirk.

"You can call me "Death, the Demon King"," Death answers, causing Mikey's face to narrow into a distrusting scowl. "Of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

"I'll stand, thank you. I don't trust any of you here. Plus, my instincts are screaming at me to kill her," Mikey replies as he jams a thumb over his shoulder towards War. "I'm only here 'cause she healed me and I owe her," Mikey finishes as he pulls up his shirt a little bit, revealing the bloody bandages sloppily wrapped around his stomach.

"That's the best you can do, War?" Famine asks.

"I'm a fighter not a doctor!" War snaps as she crosses her arms at Famine. "Tch."

"So who are you, anyway?" Mikey asks Famine one last time as he turns towards her again.

"Oh, right, you don't know," Famine replies. "Famine the Consumer, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

"Huh…" Mikey replies. "And what's up with them two?" Mikey then asks as he jabs a thumb towards the timid August and Winter.

"My children," Famine answers. "Artificially created half demons that I'll use to destroy the Slayer Organization."

"Why're they so shy?" Mikey asks.

"They're failures," Famine answers, causing Mikey to snicker.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, and why are we telling this little runt all of this information?!" War shouts as she takes a step towards Death and Famine.

Mikey sneers at War.

"Because this little runt will be joining us, War!" Death answers. "He will be a powerful pawn when it comes to our takeover of this world."

"I know that you can't wrap your feeble, battle-hearty mind around our strategies, War, but try to follow along," Famine smirks. "It's called earning his trust."

War blushes and growls at her two comrades.

"Woah woah woah, who ever said I was joining you?" Mikey asks as he holds a hand up to Death and Famine.

"Because we have an offer that you can't refuse. One that you'll find…mutually beneficial to both sides," Death answers with a smirk. "We both have the same goal, Michael Hakan. We both want to use the demons from Hell to destroy this current world. But while we want to stop at destroying the Slayer Organization, you also want to then massacre our demon hordes. I have a proposal for you. A truth treaty, that we'll work together to destroy the Slayer Organization. We won't get in your way and we won't get in yours. You'll just have to promise that you'll abide by my rules until the Slayer Organization is destroyed. After that, you have free range to do whatever you want."

"You're only proposing this treaty because I'm far stronger as an ally than I am as a foe," Mikey replies. "You think that you can kill me the second that our treaty is over, before I have a chance to do anything to your side."

"Aw, you've figured me out already?" Death asks as he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.

"But sure, I'll take you up on that offer?"

"Oh? You will?" Death asks as his eyes widen. "I didn't actually think you would. You're quite foolhardy…"

"I'll team up with you only because it's beneficial for us. And while you think that you can kill me the second our treaty ends, I think that I can do the same to you," Mikey explains. "But on one condition."

"And what may that be?" Death asks.

"I ain't listening to your orders," Mikey answers. "I'm gonna hang back here and watch the two sides kill each other, but I'm jumping in the second I see someone I wanna fight."

"Fair enough," Death answers. "So now that you're on our side, there's something else I need to tell you. Nine demons that I want you to kill. The Nine Circles of Hell. We'll point them out when they show up, their Cursed Power can't be confused for that of anyone else's. They're on a whole different level."

"Why do you want to kill 'em?" Mikey asks. "They're demons too."

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the rulers of demonkind," Death explains. "That is, until the first half demon created Hell and appointed the Nine Circles to be the strict rulers of Hell. The Nine Circles -as Hell's strongest demons- think that the world should belong to them, while in fact, the world previously belonged to us, so you can see how we clash. Power wise, they don't pose a huge threat to us, but there's no room to team up. We must kill them."

"Got it," Mikey replies. "I'm all in."