𝐌𝐘 𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

四十一 | 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐏

adulation (n.)
adoration. worship.
admiration. devotion.
reverence. favor.

「 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑻𝒀 𝑶𝑵𝑬 」
𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐏

꧁꧂

「 FIVE YEARS LATER 」

    (Y/N) walked down the many halls of one of the compounds in Shibuya, a small alarm ringing and many people brushing past her, but she didn't mind. Her dark uniform of black and blue was crisp and followed her curves and angles perfectly, the sword hanging from her hip having a black handle which gleamed in the flickering overhead light. All in all, she looked strong. As a little more than a teenager when she arrived in that world, she was scared.

More scared than she was willing to admit.

    But now, something within her changed drastically, and this was all due to meeting Guren Ichinose, the man who had saved her, and the man who had led her into becoming a warrior.

She trained until she bled, until she could no longer stand properly, and until she felt as if she would be ripped apart if she even moved. She had to if she wanted to survive any longer in this cruelty world. Upon the day when she and her squad were given their cursed gear, she thought the demon would overpower her, but by mere luck and skill, and with being an outsider from that world, she was able to outsmart her demon and gain the title of being its owner.

    "Kid!" Guren yelled, suddenly appearing in front of her and snapping her out of her thoughts.

    "I'm not a kid anymore," she snapped back as the nickname, while endearing, could be a little irritating. "You need to stop calling me that or I may just stop listening to you."

"This is no time for jokes," he sighed, running a hand through his already messy blue hair, the gel that held it in place long gone. "The vampires are attacking one of our stations in Shinjuku and they need reinforcements. They called in yours and about a dozen others."

     "Really?" She raised a brow.

While people welcomed her, there were some that viewed her origin disturbing, and most people within the Moon Demon company held onto that bitter feeling, showcasing it whenever ever they could. It was why she was surprised that they even called in. In fact, she couldn't help but worry that even if she arrived to help, she and her squad would only be met with scorn and disdain. She thought that as humans, they would all be united against the enemy, but of course with such cotton candy dreams, they never did turn out to be true.

"Come on, we leave immediately," Guren stated, turning his back to her and walking away briskly to inform the other members of the squad he oversaw. "I don't want anyone to be slacking."

Now as a Lieutenant Colonel, Guren oversaw many of the squadrons, including (Y/N)'s own, and made sure everything was in right order. As they jumped into their vehicles, Guren riding with her squad, they made their way quickly to the now burning city, many of the noble vampires swarming the once vibrant space and making her fists tighten on her lap as she glared with hatred at the creatures. No matter how hard she tried to run, she'd always have to face them. After that day when she was saved by Linder and Guren, she never once saw Ferid or Crowley again. While they attacked incessantly at first, their attacks then began to decrease in frequency, with the last attack being a year ago.

She wondered if that was why Guren was allowing her to go so far out, as he deemed it safe. She just merely hoped that Ferid and Crowley had truly lost interest in retaining her.

Yet, for some reason ever since she woke up that day, she couldn't stop the unease that churned in her stomach—unease that something terrible was going to occur. She tried to shake such ominous thoughts away, but the more she did so, the more they just seemed to come back, sticking to her and sucking away her hope like leeches did blood. She shuddered at the imagery, as it all too much reminded her of the way both Crowley and Ferid had latched into her neck to feed on her.

"You okay?" Guren asked from beside her, clearly sensing her apprehension.

"I'm fine," she murmured.

"Don't lie."

"It's not a lie," she frowned.

"Don't make this a habit, (Y/N)," Guren exhaled, seemingly in annoyance, something that only made her frown deepen. "If you're not up to the mission, you shouldn't even be going. Hesitance is a risk that we cannot have, not if it means we lose lives."

"I won't hesitate," she uttered, glaring at him with that same resolve as she always had. "I won't."

"Good," he smirked.

Before (Y/N) could even hope to return the look, dread crawled through her like a shock of lightning. Not even a moment later, she screamed when her car, the last vehicle in the line of procession, flipped forward to throw her and everyone else to the ground. The vehicle crunched into a pole, the entire front wrapping around it in a sickening display. Vampires immediately swarmed the troop who desperately began fighting, (Y/N) scrambling to get her bearings as Guren shouted at her to fight. Unfortunately, a familiar laugh made her freeze just as her fingers had wrapped around her sword.

Dread.

Familiar dread.

How could she have not known?

How could she have not seen the warnings?

Turning ever so slowly, (Y/N)'s eyes widened in terror when noticing Crowley and Ferid standing before her, twin smiles on their faces that bordered on psychotic. It was a look that sent fear as deep as it could go straight to her very soul, her entire body trembling as she shakily took a step back while they advanced ever closer.

"Well, hello, my little pet~" Ferid purred.

In an instant, he was gone, appearing behind (Y/N) before she could even react. Knocking her sword from her grip, he held her body tightly to his own as Crowley then began to approach her. He reached out a gloved hand, gently caressing her face even as she tried to jerk away from him, his smile only seemed long to grow in desperation. It was then, in that moment, did (Y/N) fully realize that all of this, this entire attack, had been nothing but a trap designed to lure her right back into their hands.

"I bet you didn't think you'd ever see us again, huh?" Crowley smiled as he leaned in closer to her. "It's good to have you back, (Y/N)."

━━━━━━━━ ꧁ ♥ ꧂ ━━━━━━━━

「 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑬𝑵𝑫 」