Ashuradō, Yomi — Several decades ago. The jewel of the underworld, polished with the blood and tears of those unworthy to call it home. Nine million people resided within the towering walls that encircled it. In a world built on survival of the fittest, one such soul lived on these streets. An urchin who survived day-to-day; fighting and sleeping with whomever possible to stay alive. Her name was Belloch.
"Hey! Get back here you bitch!" Several men screamed as the rugged girl scampered out the backdoor of a pub. They followed her relentlessly, intent on revenge.
"Stop please! You have the wrong girl!" Belloch screamed back at the voices following her, not even taking a moment to look behind.
The chase continued through the winding streets until she heard the chime of distant bells in the distance. A shrine, surely they wouldn't follow her into a sacred place she thought.
Belloch scrambled up the stone carved steps to the shrine on her hands and feet like a starved wolf. Behind her she could hear the pack still on her tail.
Hot tears fell from her face as the shrine maidens fled upon seeing the impending chaos. Belloch's eyes widened as she turned hurriedly, watching as the doors to her sanctuary shut one by one.
"Damn you all! Damn you!" she yelled out in fury, backing herself against a wall while the men closed in.
The leader of the brutes licked his lips as Belloch glared venomously.
"You screwed one of my men and afterwards stole everything he had! The poor bastard was going to propose to his lady with that ring!" The man pointed as Belloch took the gold band she had been wearing around her finger and threw it at the horde.
"Then he should have been screwing her and not me!" She screamed, wiping her tears away and bearing her teeth.
"That doesn't matter now, dumpster waif! I speak for all of us when I say that you're going to make up for what you did!"
The man grabbed her wrist as the bells chimed above, back and forth. Luckily for her, the bells drowned out the sound of an unseen man in a white hood approaching them from behind.
They rang loudly as the hooded man's gargantuan frame towered over the posse of thugs. Their chimes drowned out the screams of the men, as the hooded man's skin turned to steel and smashed down upon them.
Belloch fell back, unscathed and unsullied from the assault as blood splattered the cobblestone courtyard.
He turned to face her as Belloch's assailants lie dead before her feet. Looking down on her with a steady gaze, his skin returned to normal as he stretched out his hand to help her up.
"Did they... Do anything to you—" He said before she unexpectedly clutched his hand tightly.
"... Thank you," Belloch murmured.
"Don't thank me yet, we need to flee before the cops show up. Come, follow me." The giant said, motioning her to follow him.
Belloch chose to trust the man. Something felt different about him from all the others. A commanding presence, but also a warmth. She sensed something more from him, could it be a kindred spirit? It wouldn't be long until nightfall, when they finally escaped to the man's home underneath the massive bridge connecting Ashuradō to the rest of the continent.
He gave her a few scraps of jerky, which she chewed apart ravenously. She looked up at him afterwards, blinking curiously.
"What do you go by, got a name?" The man asked her, his arms folded.
"I'm... just Belloch. It's all I've been to anyone."
"Well then, 'Just Belloch'—"
"I didn't tell you so you could mock me."
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Canticle: Code Caligula
ActionDeath to you. A phrase the demon "Bloodstrider" Mura knows all too well; living out his unusual life as a would-be assassin in an unforgiving world. But in a twist of fate, Mura is exiled to Earth, stripped of his powers and is now hunted by those h...
