A clock on the wall of the venue's barely lit foyer strikes 7:45. Just underneath it stands the golf hat wearing manager. "Where is Murder Machine!?" he says to himself. A bald security guard in all black approaches from the glass front doors, where a crowd of people can be seen outside. "Sir, guests are crowding the front door. We have to let them in, or there'll be a riot." After a moment of internal debate, the large nosed man nods and storms off down the hall.
As the manager passes by the open back door, he fails to notice Chester, Lajon and Craig outside. The trio of teens crouch behind a beat up trailer on dry grass and peek around the corner. Not far away, the fancy RV with Tripknot's logo opens its door. Chester spots Corey stepping out with the Oz's wicked guitar and whispers, "Ok. This is it." Lajon nods at his friend and turns to Craig behind him. "Distract your friends," he says, "We'll sneak behind and grab the guitar."
With a drop of sweat, the nervous boy stands and turns the opposite corner of the trailer. However, without looking he bumps right into Amy, who stands firm as a tree. "Ah! H-hey there." Both of the girl's hands grab Craig by the shirt and lift him off the ground. Her yellow eyes burn with anger and glance past him, spotting her former bandmates behind the trailer. "Look who I found, fellas."
As the rest of Tripknot approaches, Chester points past Lajon, signaling him to go the other way around the trailer. Once they turn the corner, however, Mick blocks their way out with his bulky body. Both teens find themselves pushed down to the ground by Joey, and Craig joins them with a thud. Above them stands the surrounding band in hideous masks, with Smile holding his guitar in his hands. "Trying to get this?" he asks. Yellow fire burns through his mask's eye holes.
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With great speed, a sharp Moon Disc spins its way down the venue hall. Saul simply steps closer to the right wall to avoid. On the other end of the hall, Lil' Miss Steel launches two more discs from her belt pouch. Again, the well dressed demon takes long, swift steps side to side and remains untouched. Instead of tossing her last Moon Disc, Vee swaps it out for a Frostbang and throws it at the floor. Ice erupts to the ceiling. With a single punch Saul smashes through, sending shards flying towards Vee.
The masked girl guards her face to block incoming punches. Despite his businessman appearance, Saul displays a great career of fighting. Jabs and hooks mix and match to strike Lil' Miss Steel in an unpredictable manner, yet she stays solid. She thought his hands would've been hurting by now. In a flashy end to his combo, Saul shakes things up with a roundhouse kick. To his surprise, Vee ducks down. As he spins completely around to face her again, his chin is met with metal knuckles. Vee then grabs hold of his suit coat and kicks his chest hard, so hard it rips the coat and sends him tumbling down the dim hall.
Saul rolls onto his hands and feet in the messy dressing room. Upon spotting his torn sleeves falling down his arms, he gasps. "That was custom tailored!" For the first time since their battle began, Vee saw anger enter the demon's face. A fire-like glow leaks from his eyes as he speaks. "You wanted to dance with the devil!?..." The demon's arms expand. Red hair grows over them like an animal. "...Now you'll see..." Vee takes a step back, as Saul's growing body bursts through his vest and shirt. Hairy thighs rip out his pants. Hooves break out of his polished shoes. "...Why I'm called!..." With longer horns pointed towards his bovine-like snout, Saul roars with rage. "SAUL THE PERSECUTOR!!"
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From the backstage curtains Chester, Lajon and Craig run out in a hurry. All take a moment to catch their breath, then notice the crowd of 100 below the stage. "Show time already?" asks Chester. Without warning, Lil' Miss Steel makes her appearance as if she was thrown across the stage. The crowd applauds, while Lajon helps her up. "You didn't break the guitar!?" she says. Lajon looks to the curtains with concern and says, "We might've had some setbacks. How 'bout you?"
*STOMP!* All attendees in the moshpit simultaneously stop their cheers and drop their jaws to the floor, as do the teens on stage. Saul's monstrous form stomps onto the stage with the roar of a bull. One man with glossy eyes in the crowd points and shouts, "WHOA!! These special effects are wicked!" Stunned, the big nosed manager in the sound booth doesn't even notice the masked Joey sneaking by him. The teen with yellow eyes quickly puts on a Tripknot CD and cranks up the speakers with heavy metal. Chaos ensues in the mosh pit.
With courage, Lil' Miss Steel leaps to strike Saul's horned head. However, his giant fist, nearly as large as her entire body, buries her through the stage. With his meaty fingers around her torso, the demon flings her up to the ceiling. Lajon sees this and grabs a mic stand to hit him, but soft arms wrap around his neck tightly. It's Amy, grinning with yellow eyes while she chokes her friend. Before Chester can help his bro, the bulky Mick grabs him by the face and forces him down against the stage floor. "Say uncle!" he says, pulling the teen's arm back. "UNCLE!!" "Heh, now say Grandma!" "GRANDMA!!"
In front of the cheering crowd, Craig and Smile push and pull the demonic guitar from each other. *BAM!* A swift hook across the face sends Craig down with a bloody nose. In quick thinking, the boy grabs his possessed friend's hand and pulls him down into the pit. The Oz's guitar drops to the stage unattended. Leather boots and a cane pass by the wrestling Smile and Craig on the floor.
Watching from above, Vee holds onto a suspended row of lights. In her right belt pouch, she pulls two Frostbangs and drops them below. The monstrous Saul holds both arms up to defend, each freezing over to his elbows. Annoyed, he moves them down to see his enemy, much closer than he expected. Lil' Miss Steel punches down to stagger the giant, causing the crowd to roar in excitement. Landing back on her feet, she wastes no time and sprints into a dropkick, landing squarly on Saul's hairy chest. In the crowd, the masked Smile gets one last punch on his tired friend, then crawls like an animal back on stage. Just as the Oz's guitar is in reach, a shadow casts over him. Smile turns just in time to see the bull demon crush him through the stage floorboards
"Ok," says Mick, still keeping Chester down by holding up his arm, "Now say...great grandma!" "OW!! GREAT GRANDMA!!" he cries with teary eyes. As Saul lifts his beastly body from the hole in the stage, Smile manages to drag himself closer to the demonic guitar. The next moment felt as if it was in slow motion to everyone. Vee runs to stop Smile, but the bull demon tackles her down. Craig forces himself to rise and wipes his bloody nose. Deep down, he knows he's too late. Farther away, Lajon's face takes on a blue color from Amy's choking arms. In tears, Chester slaps his hand on the stage to tap out of Mick's firm hold. Nothing stands in Smile's way of grabbing the demonic guitar, except a withered hand reaching down.
Every single person inside the venue falls silent at the entrance of Oz Sabbath himself. Dressed in a black cloak with long, grayish brown hair, the old man speaks in barely coherent words. "Oy, wot're you doin' with my geetar?" The yellow-eyed Smile snaps out of his amazed trance and reaches up off his knees. At that moment, the old man plays a wicked solo on his demonic guitar. From the reptilian eye of the instrument, a portal of fire opens and spirals into itself. Corey's eyes and mouth open wide, as a black spirit is violently sucked out into the flames. Mick, Amy, and even Joey from the sound booth lose their evil spirits too, allowing the blue-face Lajon and crying Chester to relax.
Saul is more resilient than the spirits. His meaty fingers dig inside the stage, ripping up floor boards as he's pulled closer to the fiery vortex. His yellow eyes look slightly up to find Lil' Miss Steel. "New deal!" shouts Saul as he grabs her leg, "I drag you back to Hell with me!" Vee drops to her back with fear in her eyes. No time to think; she fires her grappling hook at the nearest support beam beside the stage and holds on tight. Urgently she pulls out the final Moon Disc from her belt with her other hand and says, "No deal!" Vee plunges the sharp blade into Saul's hand, forcing his grip to fail.
The bull demon roars as he is sucked into the swirling flame. Oz Sabbath ends his hellish song, and the portal closes, leaving the entire venue silent in awe. With all demons dealt with, the old man points down at Corey with a crooked finger and says, "Let that be a leshon for you whippersnappers. No one takes the Oz's geetar!" The old man in black steps off stage with his cane, and Corey awakens. "What the hell happened?" he asks, "Why am I here?" Craig kneels at his side and says, "Yeah, 'hell's' right buddy. Good to have you back!"
A few feet away, Lajon holds his throat and catches his breath. Amy cries and squeezes his chest in a chokingly tight hug. "I'm SO sorry! I couldn't control myself!" Once again turning blue, Lajon struggles to whisper, "It's ok." "UNCLE!!" The screaming voice of Mick turns everyone's heads. Now Chester holds him by the arm against the stage. "Say it louder!" he says. "UNCLE!! UNCLE!!"
"Catch!" Lajon is released from Amy's loving hug just in time to catch his thrown bass guitar. Likewise Amy receives her keytar, and Chester his electric guitar. No longer in her heroic uniform, Vee in casual clothes sits on a stool behind her drum kit. "Come on! Now the real show starts!" Each of them smile at each other, then Chester scoops up the mic from the floor. "PHOENIX!! Are you ready to get WICKED!?" As the crowd roars with arms up high, the band begin their first song.
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Want to see more of Saul? Check out DemoniCo on Tapas or Webtoon!
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