BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 2: Chapter 9; God

"Phewwww....."

Shinobu took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.

A tall, serpentine figure cloaked in darkness with a single black wing sprouting out from the left side of their back stood before her, its piercing golden orb sending shivers down her spine.

Damnit, I can already tell they're incredibly powerful....stupid demons and their stupid strength.....

The butterfly girl readied another toxin within her blade and steeled her mind, focusing on the target at hand.

Part of her was hoping she would have gotten just a little bit used to facing off against daunting and powerful opponents. Sephir, Razel, even Sakusa himself all sent shivers through her body and a bead of sweat down her forehead. But over these past months, she hoped that maybe she would have had an easier time stomaching their suffocating presences.

You, though....

Staring this demon down was giving her chills through her entire body.

"So, you only have one wing on your back, right, demon~?" The silence was agonizing, Shinobu had to speak up. "Or would you happen to be hiding one from me~?"

The demon said nothing though. It only kept staring at her with a bright golden eye like a raven, unmoving.

It seemed lifeless, like a statue.

An unsettling statue, at that.

"Aw, not much of a talker, are you~?" The butterfly girl sighed, her eyes softening in feigned pity.

Shinobu bent her knees and pulled her blade back, twisting her core around in a battle stance.

It doesn't matter to me whether you speak or not,

I'll still kill you here.

"Insect Breathing, Dance of the Dragonfly ; Compound Eye Hexagon!"

In a split-second blitz, the Insect Hashira rushed forward towards the unmoving demon.

Her first thrust sent a chill up her spine and her face shifted in shock.

....Huh?

Five separate attacks followed, and Shinobu flew past the demon and skidded across the street, before grinding to a halt.

She looked behind her, and felt a pit grow in her stomach.

No.....no way......

The demon slowly shuffled its way around to face her, glaring at her with the piercing golden eye once more.

T-This guy, The butterfly girl mumbled in her thoughts,

My attacks didn't even touch him......not a single one.....

......I wouldn't have been so surprised if this demon dodged or parried them, but....it didn't feel like I was attacking at anything, it felt like I was thrusting my blade at thin air.....

......I know for a fact you didn't move, so why, Shinobu's gaze narrowed into daggers as she locked eyes with the Angel, feeling uneasy.

Why didn't anything hit?

Only fifty metres away, around two blocks to the side of her, Sakusa was glaring with fiery malice in the face of the emaciated demon before him.

A boy with a beautiful pair of iridescent butterfly wings flew above him in the night sky lit by the full moon, casting a palette of colours down on the ground through the transparent wings on the demon's back.