~In An Empty Parking Lot in Downtown Glory~

Four people walked to the middle of an empty parking lot. At the end, a long rail separated the lot and a long drop to the ground level. Past the railing, the only lighting came from the many buildings, glowing brightly in the middle of the night. 

A woman walked in front of three men. The woman had dark, straight hair with bangs covering her forehead and brown eyes. Her outfit, a black crop top, high-waisted pants, and loose arm sleeves. She also wore a pink chain with large O-rings circling her waist. Though, the most interesting feature of her was what seemed to be a single black line tattoo running straight down from her bottom lip to her chin.

The woman stopped a short distance away from the men and the man in the middle pulled out a handgun and pointed it at her.

“Drop everything you took from us!”

“And just what makes you think I want to give you your stuff back?” The woman said in a snarky tone.

“Don’t fuck with us! Do it! Now!”

“You don’t deserve it back. I’ll hold onto it for you. That sound goo—“

POW

The man fired a gunshot to the sky.

“That was your only warning shot! Don't make me aim the next one at you!”

“Hey, that was a bit loud! What if someone hears that and they bring the cops over here?”

“You have til’ the count of three…”

The woman sighed and began walking away.

“Is she... This bitch is really walking away? Oh HELL NO!”

The man aimed the gun at her and fired.

Dink 

The sound of something hitting metal reverberated through the parking lot. The woman was gone and the bullet had hit the railing. In the spot she moved from, tiny little crackles of pink-colored electricity lingered on the ground. 

“Where is she?!”

“GAHH!!”

The man turned around to see the woman locking a chokehold around one of the other men.

“G-Get her off of me!”

“Stop moving or I’ll shoot you by mistake!”

POW

The man getting choked lost consciousness and dropped to the floor. Immediately as he dropped, the man with the gun fired at the woman but in a flash, she was gone again.

“Fuck! Where is she?!”

“URGH—“

The woman appeared again and decked the other man without a gun in the face. The man with the gun shot at her again and she vanished.

“What the hell is this?! How is she moving this fast?! Wait… Don’t tell me you’re the P—“

“Stop yelling.” She suddenly appeared behind him, gripping the arm he held his gun in. The man swung his arm back attempting to hit her with his elbow but she moved and lifted him up, causing him to drop his gun. The man flailed, kicking and such but her hold on him was too tight.

“Look at you getting manhandled like this. Want your gun? There, go fetch.” She kicked the gun a few yards away and let the man go. He scrambled for his gun but was met with a swift kick to the back of the head. 

“Sigh”

The woman let out a long sigh and walked over to the man on the floor knocked out right near his gun.

“Hey buddy, I don’t think you can sleep there.” She tapped his head with her foot a few times but he was out cold. 

“Oh well. Thanks for the goods. Oh, and this too.”

The woman picked up his gun and left, leaving the men there knocked out.

~The Next Morning in the Azaroth Estate~

Lucen’s eyes opened to the sight of his room in the Azaroth Estate.

Ughhh, what time is it—

“Ow ow ow ow ow.”

He winced as he took a look at his arms and noticed his arms were wrapped in bandages.

Dear God, that hurts… What even happened? Last thing I remember we were in District 8 and— Oh!

He suddenly sat up and tried to get off the bed but the pain from his wounds stopped him immediately from moving anywhere as he fell off.

Ughhhhh…

Knock Knock Knock

The door opened to Vonica standing there holding a vacuum. She immediately set it down and ran over to help Lucen up.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… Just fell. Everything hurts though.”

“Here, let me help you up.”

Vonica helped Lucen stand up.

“Don’t know how I’m gonna hide this. I look like a mummy right now.”

“You do not need to worry. While you may still feel pain from your wounds, they are healed for the most part. The bandages are there to help minimize the pain.”

“How? Oh right, magic and everything or something.”

“Hey Lucen, you did amazing by the way.”

“Eh?”

“To take on all of those feral devils like that and use your demonic energy. There are a lot of devils who struggle to even control their demonic energy, manifest it into an element, and even use it in combat.”

“I think it was due to the help of the glove you made. Probably. I don’t know. I’ve never done that before.”

“My glove likely assisted but that was completely you and your ability. You are a very capable Lucen. More capable than a lot of devils.”

“Really? Well thanks, Vonica. I appreciate it.”

Lucen sighed and sat back down on the bed.

“This really had me thinking, this power I have, where does it come from? I’ve been so caught up with everything that I put aside the one most important thing. No one knows how a human can have this demonic energy thing and yet, it just appeared on my hand one night. Also, why now of all times? I’ve been alive 18 years and I’ve never seen this before.”

“Lucen, do you remember those people you fought that night you met Lia?”

“Huh? Yeah, what about those goofs?”

“Lia had told me after she returned with you, that they were devils.”

“Wait what? Those guys? Seriously??”

“Yes and when you came into contact with them physically, that was the catalyst to your demonic energy awakening.”

“No shot… Why’d she never tell me this? Well… I guess I hadn’t asked yet. Still, I wonder if Auribel also has anything to do with this.”

“Auribel?”

“Oh nothing… Well wait, maybe I should ask you about this.”

“Hm?”

“Ever since that night in the alley, I’ve been having these weird dreams where I would wake up in some strange white room. There, I’d find this strange looking girl named Auribel but the room would go dark after a short while and I’d wake up right after.”

“That is intriguing… I am sorry, I am unaware of that name so I do not know if I could tell you much about that.”

“That’s alright. Expected as much.”

“Perhaps Lia could tell you something?”

“Yeah… I’ll head downstairs. I think I should be able to walk— Nevermind. If you don’t mind.”

Lucen and Vonica exited the room with Vonica helping Lucen down the stairs safely. They both entered the lounge room. The only one in the room was Lia.

“Ladies, I have returned.” Lucen said, announcing himself. 

Oh, looks like it’s only Lia here. Wonder where Sana is.

Lia immediately stood up from her desk and approached Lucen. “Are you feeling alright?” 

“Yeah, whatever you guys did worked wonders.”

“Listen… Lucen, would you mind if we talked for a moment?”

“Uhh yeah, of course.”

Lucen followed Lia as she returned to her desk.

“I wanted to apologize to you.” 

“Huh? For what?”

“It’s my fault that you ended up hurt. If I had gone with you instead, I could have made sure nothing happened to you like I had promised. Instead, I thought you’d adapt faster by being directly involved in the fighting and you’d be just fine. I realized that was a foolish mistake on my part.”

“You don’t have to apologize for that.”

“But still, you ended up nearly losing your life over something that never even involved you.”

“You know these last few days I’ve just been going along with whatever you guys do. Before that, I don’t think I had any true purpose or goal for myself. I was just… existing. Now, my life has changed and there’s something new. I’ve met you guys who live completely different lives. Maybe, subconsciously, I felt that I could follow you and this new change would help me find something I truly wanted. Or maybe I just found all of this kinda fun, as confused as I’ve been lately.”

Lucen walked in front of Lia and held out his fist.

“Besides, you said it yourself, I’m a part of the family now, right? I’m sure you know by now that I, Lucen Rivers, am a cut above the rest. Give me enough time and I’ll be as strong as you, haha.”

Lia breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re pretty mature for your age.”

“Come on… I’m not that much younger than you.”

“You’re right.” For the first time since meeting her, Lucen caught a small smirk on Lia’s face. Though, it quickly disappeared and she returned to her usual face.

“Come on, don’t leave me hanging.”

“?” Lia stared, confused at Lucen’s outstretched fist. 

“Fist bump.”

“Fist bump…?”

“Here.”

Lucen grabbed Lia’s hand, balled up her fist, and placed it against his.

“From now on, anything that happens to me is my responsibility. Despite the situation and if I really didn’t want to, I’m sure you wouldn’t force me into going with you guys to District 8, right? So, no more apologizing for that.”

Lia nodded in agreement.

Ding Dong Ding Dong

Suddenly the doorbell to the estate rang. Vonica got up to answer and a few moments later, she walked in with a tall, blonde, middle-aged man.

“Woww, this room hasn’t changed one bit.” The man said, looking around.

“Lia, Weld is here!”

“Ahhh, Lucen! Long time no see!”

“Uncle Weld...?”