The strange person was a young man. He was tall and thin, with pale skin and dark hair. He wore a tight black compression shirt attached to a metal cuff around his throat, his shoulders left bare. A black mask covered his face, wrapping around to the back of his head. A long black tube fell from the back of the mask and attached on his back beneath long, translucent wings that hung like a cape. Black heeled boots were pulled up to his knees, covering skin tight leggings. He reclined on the balcony, looking down upon the group of people gathered beneath him.
Dr. Alde looked around, at Frankie, Delphina, and Syzygy, then towards Ignis and his two friends, then to the pair of Savant and Armel. Behind them an angel, Altair, was looking around frantically, holding the famous doctor, Asmodeus, against his chest. Ahead of them was a young man wrapped in bandages, wearing a simple gray hoodie and burnt umber sweatpants.
The man strode forward. Despite his youthful appearance and stature, he had an intimidating air about him as he approached the bandaged man. He leaned in close and raised a hand up, jumping back when the bandages wrapping around the other man suddenly shot out, unraveling from around his limbs and threatening to strike the dark haired man.
"Antsy, aren't we?" he tutted, chuckling softly. "I haven't even introduced myself. Call me David. And you all are…?"
The darkness that had been permeating the corners of the room disappeared as David bowed elegantly. The group remained silent, exchanging confused glances with each other until the man in bandages began laughing uncontrollably. David looked taken aback.
"David?" he choked out. "Come on, you gotta be kidding me. You're parading around here all edgy and in black, and your name is David? Usually the final boss has more of an intimidating presence than this…"
Blinking, David tilted his head. "Uh, yes. That is the name I was given."
"Haha. Sorry, I didn't mean to ridicule your name. Call me Gordon," the bandaged man said, shoving his hands into his pockets. The bandages—whose appearances were more akin to snakes upon closer inspection—reluctantly coiled back around his arms and legs.
"Very well, then. Thank you, Gordon." David tested the name out. "And… all of you?" He looked out at the rest of the group, still too stunned to understand the situation.
Frankie spoke up first, introducing himself, Dr. Alde, Delphina, and Syzygy. Savant and Armel introduced themselves next, then Ignis, Ginger, and Kintsugi. Finally, Altair hesitantly introduced himself and the sleeping Asmodeus. David swept his gaze over everyone, nodding contentedly.
"Great, thank you everyone." David applauded. "Now, I shall kill you all!"
"W-wait! You can't just kill us," Savant stammered. "See, I'm… ah… the royal inventor! And Kintsugi and Armel are some of the guards! And the demon sleeping over there is the kingdom's best doctor, and Dr. Alde is the Frontier's best engineer. If you kill us all, you'll definitely get the Queen of Hearts knocking down your door."
"Really?" David tilted his head, eyes widening eagerly. "Splendid! I will make your deaths quick, then, so I can get the queen here sooner."
Savant pressed his mouth into a thin line, avoiding the eyes staring him down.
Before the rest of the group could respond, David held his arms out wide. A dark tendril swirling around his left arm before thinning and straightening out, a shadowy handle curving around David's hand and forming a sleek black sword made of miasma.
"I'll make this fair. Just a simple duel. No taking away your vision or anything." David spun the sword in his hand with elegance, sweeping its tip around to point at the motley crew before him. His other hand beckoned them forward. "Don't all be shy at once. Come on, I can take you all on at once."
Kintsugi moved first, surging forward and using his fingernails to rip into the skin at his sides. Golden blood flowed from his wound, swirling around him before forming and hardening into a blade. It was a bit wider and with a larger, rounder handle than David's, and he held one of them in each hand. He swung forward relentlessly, striking with precision and power. David blocked, eye narrowing as he was slowly pushed back by the larger man.
Gritting his teeth, David ducked and darted between Kintsugi's legs, hooking his foot around the oni's ankles. Planting his hand on the floor, David twisted his body, sweeping Kintsugi's legs out from underneath him.
Stumbling, Kintsugi caught himself before he fell, turning to glare at David. Before David could return to his duel with Kintsugi, a ball of fire shot past, narrowly missing David's head. He spun around to look at the caster—Ignis—his eyes pressing into thin crescents from excitement.
"Wow, you can use fire!" David skirted around the crowd, dodging magic and other attacks, slicing through another fireball. Three more were fired off in quick succession, with David pulling off various acrobatics to avoid them. "You can fire four at once, too? How remarkable!"
David closed the distance between him and Ignis, causing the magician to stumble backwards to avoid being sliced and stabbed. The girl beside him—Ginger—removed her gloves, running towards him with outstretched hands. He blocked her grab by substituting the arm she was aiming for with his sword. Before he could swing it back at her, it turned into a brittle, brown material and crumbled to the floor. Quickly repositioning himself, he used one of his legs to kick her backwards, sending her tumbling to the ground. Bending down, he picked up the pieces of what was once his sword.
"Cookies…? Ah, gingerbread! How amusing! You can turn anything you touch into gingerbread?" David shook his head, walking away from Ginger. "Sorry, can't let that happen to me."
As he turned, he narrowly avoided a streak of lightning that swept past his face. Before him stood Frankie, Dr. Alde, Delphina, and Syzygy, prepared to fight. David dodged an onslaught of boiling water, sidestepping Delphina's own sword that she had attached to her arm, and produced another sword to parry a swing from Syzygy's metal umbrella. He backed away from Frankie's Tempest, the small dragon biting down into David's miasma blade, the reverberation causing it to slink away and retreat.
David nearly backed into Gordon, whose snakes whipped out to quickly finish what they'd started.
Kintsugi and Armel both charged at him while David found himself restrained by Gordon's snakes, both a blur of powerful muscles and rippling abs. David's eyes grew wild with excitement as he freed himself from the snakes' vice grip and dodged each attack, flipping backward and turning his sword into a long spear, spinning it around with a flourish.
He parried Kintsugi's blades and dodged Armel's punches, reeling briefly from the speed and power of each failed strike. David's eyes widened as he studied the size of Armel's arms.
"Wow, you're strong!" David exclaimed. His spear curved, hooking one of Armel's arms and dragging him closer. Armel snapped his arm away before David could run a curious finger along it, causing the young man to look disappointed for a brief moment. Not allowing him a second to breathe, a giant, golden ring appeared before him, expanding and distorting the air inside it. David peered inside, noticing the opposite wall of the ballroom. Then, a lean body followed by white feathered wings appeared from within the ring, sandaled feet first.
David blocked the kick with his spear, shoving his weight forward to push back against the angel. "Portals?" he mused. "What do you even need wings for, then?"
Altair's powerful wings unfolded, catching himself midair before he could get sent flying. Eyes and body shifting as quick as lightning, David's sights were suddenly set on the sleeping demon Altair had carefully propped up against the wall.
"I want to see how strong your partner is!" He continued dodging magic and other attacks, and blocked swings from weapons as he darted around inhumanly fast and flexibly. The insane glint in his eyes only shone brighter and brighter, and the miasma he had been holding back seemed to flow strongly around him.
He's getting stronger, and none of us have landed a hit on him, everyone thought. There's no way we can beat him.
Before David could reach Asmodeus, the demon stirred, stretching and yawning and cracking his neck and back. His eyes blinked open, widening as he noticed the dark figure rapidly approaching. Leaping to his feet, Asmodeus managed to dodge David's first swing of his spear.
Asmodeus pulled out an injection needle, hurling it at David. He dodged easily, only to be bombarded by three more. The demon dug his nails into his own arm, letting his dark blue blood flow. A large pool of blood formed around the both of them, droplets rising up to form more needles that shot towards David at lightning speed.
David's excitement turned to fear as he struggled to dodge Asmodeus' onslaught of needles, using his weapon to futilely block what he could. Blood needles embedded into his shoulders, his arms, and his legs, causing his grip to falter and his knees to buckle. He staggered as Asmodeus approached, arms outstretched.
"You're fighting the miasma," Asmodeus noted, his voice firm with hints of gentleness. "As well as us. But you should be letting both go freely."
"I… can't… do that…" David muttered, rippling needles from his shoulder. David spat, flicking his own blood—black, like the miasma—onto the floor. "If I kill you all, maybe I'll be one step closer to killing the queen."
Asmodeus cocked an eyebrow. "Well, I'm not affiliated with Queen Regina. In fact, I don't think any of us are. She closed down all of the trade routes and I can't get any medicine for my patients until they're back up. I think it's safe to say she's made an enemy of us all."
He moved closer, causing David to stumble backwards like a caged animal. The demon held out a hand to David.
"St-stay away…" David hissed, suddenly doubling over to grab his head. "This… accursed magic… that woman took everything from me. This magic tells me to…"
An unholy scream was released from his lungs, miasma shooting out in all directions, and rising from his body like smoke from a fire. Everyone backed away, eyeing David cautiously as he fell to the ground. Asmodeus simply watched, sighing as he snapped his fingers. A tiny blue flame flickered into existence, igniting the blood on his palms and trailing down the floor, snaking its way across the ground towards David.
David, who was covered in his dark blue blood. The very blood that ignited, covering him in blue flames. The young man's screams became filled with agony, causing a brief pang of guilt to seize Asmodeus' heart. Stepping forward, wrapping a gentle arm around David's shoulders, Asmodeus procured another needle and injected David in the thigh.
David's voice faltered as he grew limp in Asmodeus' arm, the spiraling miasma withdrawing back into his body as he drifted to sleep. Slipping another arm under David's knees, Asmodeus lifted him up and carried him back towards the others, eyes darting between everyone curiously.
Now fallen limp in Asmodeus' arms, David looked nothing more than a wayward kid.
"His mind is slowly being eaten by the miasma," Asmodeus murmured. "I need to treat him."
"You can't," Altair responded. "At least, not at the hospital. What if he loses control of the miasma again, and you aren't there? He'll endanger the patients and the staff."
Asmodeus thought about this. "I suppose that's true. Without a proper way to deal with the miasma, it'll be hard to take care of him without posing a big risk to everyone else. And we can't simply leave him here, the trip back and forth would be too risky and long."
As the two conversed, Hesterno unwrapped himself from around Gordon's neck, whispering, "Gordon. You must find a way to take in that man."
"Huh?" Gordon hissed back. "What are you talking about? What if he loses control of the miasma again?"
"We want to examine him," Hesterno replied. "We know the miasma better than any of you all here."
"Indeed…" Hodie added remorsefully. "We have witnessed gods and mortals alike overtaken by it. We can rewind time on his body to prevent it from leaking out. We just need to be in close proximity to him at all times. Do you think you can strike a deal with the demon, Gordon?"
Gordon sighed, feet already moving towards Asmodeus and Altair. "I don't really know how to take care of a person, y'know."
"We know, from how you treat yourself," Cras sneered. "But we'll help you. We'll take care of the hard part, you just need to satisfy him."
"What."
"His needs. Give him food, a bed, clothes… whatever you mortals need."
"Fine…" Gordon mumbled.
Asmodeus looked up, noticing Gordon approaching. His grip tightened on David, turning his body slightly to shield the young man. Noticing this, Gordon raised his hands in surrender, his eyes brimming with sincerity.
"I won't hurt him. In fact, I can take care of him. I promise."
─── ♡ ♢ ☀︎ ✩ ☽ ♧ ♤ ───
"...that's what happened, Your Majesty." A short girl with cropped, black hair bowed her head, kneeling before a figure shrouded by crimson drapes.
A rich voice with a deep timbre snuck out from behind the velvet and silk. "Interesting… thank you, Bai Guo."
"Of course, my queen."
"Fine. I suppose we can open the trade routes back up again for now. After all…" the woman stood, her figure silhouetted through the curtains. She was tall, long hair falling as she rose. "...I want to see that kid again."