Assassins and Angels

56: Night Market Arc; Unyielding Resolve

As Crainer leaps into battle and unsheathes his blade, noticed by the demon of hatred, he races along a dragon's neck and slices it to pieces to rescue Sigils, before making her way to save Kate and Nico as well. He confronts Abaddon and demands he relinquishes Kate and Nico, only for Abaddon to be provoked and order, "Shut up, shameless tramp. Only one person can order me to do things."

Crainer gasped, being aghasted at his insult, "SHAMELESS TRAMP?! Me? Did he mean me?! What a mean guy! He looks as old as my older sister!", but then wonders, "Wait a minute, do demons look older than their age? But still, that was so mean!" Abaddon unleashes crazed cries of thunder death, summoning his dragons to attack Crainer with a combined blast of Birsha's lightning and Charon's sonic scream.

He quickly leaps high into the air and slices into the attack and dissipating it, as he declares he will no longer hold back, irrespective of his child-like appearance. While Abaddon is surprised to see him slash through his attack, Sigils is stunned by his sheer power, noting his blade's incredible flexibility and his own impressive skill to wield it.

Using Typhon's winds, Abaddon summons consecutive gusts to crush Crainer, but he easily evades them and moves to attack. A dragon charges at him, leading the assassin to slice it to pieces. Another head fires Acheron's spear projections at Crainer and he destroys them. Abaddon, seeing he can keep up with his individual attacks, decides he will overwhelm him instead, creating even more wooden dragons.

As Crainer becomes unnerved to see such a wide attack, he became unsure if he could defeat them all, Crainer flips back and blitzes forward and cuts through all of the dragons in a powerful flurry of slashes. He spots the demon of hatred's head and wraps his blade around his neck, determined to behead him. "I just need to cut off his head..." Crainer thought allowed, dismissing all intrusive thoughts. Abaddon's mouth opens and glows brightly as Sigils tries to warn the assassin that beheading him won't kill him. "Crainer! Beheading him won't do it! He's immune to having many lives!"

"Huh?! Seriously?! I think I made the wrong call!" Crainer exclaimed, much to him thinking he's going to die.

Using compressed sound waves, Abaddon blasts Crainer with an even more powerful sonic shriek, knocking him unconscious. As Sigils attempts to reach him, Kate resorts to freeing herself, while Nico continues to struggle to free himself from being trapped in the dragon's coils. Seeing the assassin fall to her knees, Abaddon is stunned to see his body intact despite taking the brunt of his attack up close, surmising he had tensed his muscles to save himself, though he notes he still shouldn't have survived.

Seeing that his physical strength belies his body, he realizes his abnormal constitution will suffice as good nourishment to gain power, deciding to devour him instead and moving to break her skull open first with a punch as Sigils tries to save him.

A younger and ornately dressed Crainer appears on a bridge with someone, who insults him and states "Your hair's a funny colour. Only a bear or a boat or a steer would marry you. The idea of passing that on to children gives one shivers."

The woman asks "I can't possibly arrange a marriage with you! Please forget about me, goodbye."

Crainer was 25 when his marriage arrangement fell through. His muscle density is eighth times of that as a normal person.

At another time, as a very young Crainer plays with his father and attempts to flex his arm like him, disappointed by his lack of visible muscles, he reminisces on a story his mother had told about how he lifted a four kan stone at just 14 months old, shocking and horrifying her, despite Crainer only wanting to help in the kitchen. His mother, who was noted for his unflappable demeanor, was stunned for the first time.