Chapter 11: A Witch of Asmodeus

News all around the city was about that explosion that now had a death toll of twenty-seven. Everyone in their homes was watching as the photo of Montana Mills flashed on their screens. The local police had named him the terrorist, and the company had agreed to reward positive tips with ten thousand dollars.

Because of this, the streets were littered with people who were looking for the said man.

Some of his coworkers knew where this anti-social man lived. A group of three men broke into his place, hoping to bag him while he was sleeping. However, what welcomed them was a Montana Mills who was smiling at them while sitting on his couch. There was a girl next to him, whose hair was bleached white and seemed to be wearing white contact lenses.

The only defining feature aside from her white totality was that her clothes were only like stone patches carved into her skin, covering the center of her breasts and the region between her legs. Her white skin wasn't flawless as it was riddled with strange lines.

"Master, they're the last ones in the list." The girl didn't get her gaze off of them.

"Oh, that's good." 'Montana' got to his feet and took out a detonator from his pocket. "Good night!"

Boom!

The explosion in the small apartment thundered across the entire neighborhood. The entire apartment complex was torn apart, and unsuspecting families were blasted dead along with the three coworkers. From the smoke, a young man's laughter blared as he escaped.

Those who had gone out to check saw Montana Mills driving a pure white motorbike without a license plate and laughing maniacally through the night.

Out of view, they passed through a pitch-black alley. What emerged next was a white car that rolled into the streets like it was innocent. Inside, a young man tore his mask to get rid of the skin imitating Montana's face.

"Master, should we get rid of the real Montana Mills?" A voice of a woman came from the radio of the car he was driving.

"Hmph. He'll be caught by them. Moreover, even if he came after me, what can he do?" The man laughed out and hummed as he leaned on the seat, his hands on the steering wheel even if the car was moving on its own. "Carmina, don't bother about him anymore."

"As Master pleases."

The master then looked out of the window and saw shadows moving in the skyline. "Tch, hunters are here again. Let's hide in the Pandemonium for now."

"Yes, Master."

The car then screeched and ran into the dark wall before vanishing.

Even if there was an explosion of subtle magic in the vicinity, the three hunters—as they were called—only glanced in that direction. Besides, they were assigned to locate a certain bigger anomaly. They got a reading of a strong source of magic coming from a certain warehouse up north.

Moreover, one of their junior members had sprung into action and went on ahead before them. If they didn't move fast, they might even lose him. That would be�� very inconvenient for these hunters.

…

Montana, who had no idea how bad his situation was outside the warehouse, was only concerned with waiting for Mephisto. However, the warehouse shutter was forcibly opened, and he had gone to hide immediately.

The light from outside poured into the door, and a young man walked in. He had blonde hair and strong green eyes, but his face was shaped by hardness and training. His body also had its share of shaping, and it quickly caught Montana's eyes.

The man then gazed at the direction Montana was hiding from. "Surrender yourself, witch! I know you're here!"

Caliga wanted to make a noise, but Montana only petted him. He got up from behind the boxes and walked to get to the man's view. "Who's looking for me?"

'Who' was something very important to him as the man seemed to be punishing witches. If he decided to stick to the daunting task of hunting witches, he might run into these people again. He might as well have an idea… because Mephisto never told him anything.

"Does it matter? Prepare to die!" The young man dashed towards Montana, with his fist exploding into a bright light like some kind of supernova.

"That's not even helpful!" Montana was shocked at what the man did at first notice. Maybe he should indeed train to keep his life. He didn't really know if he would be expiring in ten years, but he wanted to punch that terrorist in the face first before dying at least.

Just nice Caliga was there. He jumped in front of Montana and crouched as if preparing a counterattack. The man didn't care about the black dog and pumped his fist forward, sending some kind of white light towards Montana and Caliga. With that blow, the young man seemed to be confident to take them down.

The witch was nothing strong after all, possibly only level one. Perhaps two other demons or an entire group of witches was there when they detected the daunting presence.

What he didn't expect was that Caliga's red eyes suddenly turned blue. His breath of decay ignited from inside the belly, and he spat out a big blue ball of flames. The freezing flames of the deepest Hell just came from the black dog!

"Hellhound?!" the young man yelled in panic. He watched his attack evaporate in front of the blue flames, and he jump-rolled to the side to evade the flames and its scorching heat.

Evidently, the floor melted, and the boxes caught blue fire just from the proximity. Caliga then howled as he prepared for slaughter. His body began to enlarge again, and his feet grew bigger than they should.

Hideous growling blared as the black figure dashed at lightning speed towards the hunter. The young man's eyes widened as he felt the Death had come-a-calling already.

"No, Caliga! Stop!" Montana quickly ran and blocked Caliga's swipe with his frail human body. Caliga's claw swiped to the side and evaded Montana, destroying a good portion of the floor. The black dog only eyed Montana and the man who collapsed behind him.

"You! What are you called?" Montana turned to the man. A young man clad in what seemed to be a black-and-white military uniform was obviously from an organization… unless he's just a weirdo who wanted to dress like that on a summer night.

"Your familiar is a hellhound? But you're… you're…"

Montana kneeled next to him and smiled as he reached out to clear the strange man's face from his fringe that strayed from his slicked-back hair. "Mister, this master is not willing to wait for so long."

In a flash, he seemed to morph from one weak stupid witch to a calamity-grade corrupted man. The young man only stared at him and then at the growling hellhound that could swallow him whole.

"We're… I'm from the Order of Michael!" The young man suddenly found courage from uttering the Order's name and crawled back. "You might be able to kill me, but the Order will never leave you alone!"

"Hm. Okay." Montana got to his feet and eyed Caliga meaningfully.

The hellhound then gurgled like laughing at the man's misery. He took steps forward, but the young man failed to even move any faster. His body shivered in terror, and his entirety screamed for mercy. In the end, the colorless liquid began to pool under his legs; he even looked down at himself as he leaked some warm fluid.

Montana didn't laugh at his predicament. He then just hummed. "Caliga, do you think that could have been me in the future?"

The hellhound only barked as a 'yes'. Montana then nodded before he ran to Caliga and climbed the dog that had grown into the height of a horse. He looked at the young man and smiled. "Remember this face. I'm not your enemy."

With a playful wink, he had Caliga run off into the night.

The young man's eyes flickered before he shook his head off. He then pulled himself away from the humiliating warm fluid. He soon got to his feet and inspected the place with his eyes. The reading he got was already gone when he ran into that witch with a hellhound familiar. It only meant that some strong demons were indeed in the area… with them.

"Luca!"

The joined shout of the three other hunters startled the man. Luca turned behind him and dumbly greeted them. "Seniors…"

"Luca! Are you hurt?" The one in the middle was a middle-aged female. However, as soon as she grabbed Luca's shoulders, she smelled something on him as she twitched her nose. A blush coated a bit of Luca's cheeks, and so he averted his gaze.

"Luca, what did you fight in this place?" The other man saw the traces of battle as the floor was blasted, burned, and melted at some places.

That ripped Luca from his humiliating staredown with his auntie and regained his airs when he regarded the damage. "There's a hellhound in the area. It fended me off and escaped. Its master must have called it from afar."

The woman was stunned. "A hellhound? Did you take note of its eyes? Tell me you saw yellow eyes and red flames!"

Luca then gasped. "Yellow eyes and red flames? They could conjure different colors?"

As he was lost in his own thoughts, the three senior hunters were all bracing themselves for what he was about to say.

"No, Auntie. The hellhound has blue eyes and conjures blue flames! Don't all hellhounds spit out blue flames?"

"No, Luca. Only Asmodeus's hellhounds spit blue fire." The oldest among the senior hunters stroked at his beard. "For someone to have that kind of hellhound in this plane. Let's head back to base for now. We needed to fully prepare for this."

"Asmodeus's hellhound?" Luca murmured as the three senior hunters went on ahead. "Is he a witch of Asmodeus?" A stronger blush colored his cheeks as he recalled the cute wink Montana gave him. "He must be."