Chapter 1: Dancing With Demons
In Flight Ch 14 Bad End
A rustle of movement and a breeze of wind signalled Akitsu's return to my side. I let my swords lower as my eyes scoured the battlefield seeking the state of my other Sekirei and their remaining opponents.
Musubi was standing guard over her defeated enemy, vigorously abiding by the custom of guarding the bodies of fallen Sekirei. Homura was breathing heavily as he stood on the elevated part of the roof looking at me with a piercing stare, his gaze occasionally flickering to where Tsukiumi faced off at her sole remaining adversary, the only of the Sekirei that came with Kakizaki still in the fight, though they were ignoring each other to stare at me with shock.
That left only the secretary, who was still in the same spot at the roof's edge. He was hard to recognize, his formerly confident demeanor had been replaced entirely with a wide eyed expression and a posture shaking with fear. One which seemed oddly familiar.
"What…what are you?" He barely managed to say with his voice trailing off.
The situation instantly became intimately familiar to me as a recalled my experiences during the Grail War. A part of me smirked with amusement of what my former teacher turned enemy would think of the situation and what I was about to do. Luckily, I was able to maintain my calm expression.
"It's fine to assume that the Ashikabi's role is to support from the back," I began, repeating the phrase which once terrified me, continuing in my planned role of intimidating the competition in the Sekirei Plan. "but there are always exceptions. There are some Ashikabi who can only fight head on." I finished watching Kakizaki to see if it would have the same impact on him as it did for me.
Kakizaki's appearance seemed to confirm my prediction as he began to try and calm himself in the face of my words and actions.
This was it. The battle was over. Despite having overwhelming numbers and having been on his home ground we had beaten him completely. He had three Sekirei left, and two of them were either crippled or disarmed. The final one was facing a single digit that had already managed to hold her off even when she had the support of two other Sekirei with her.
Only I was wrong.
Kakizaki breathing quickly became erratic as his attempts to calm himself from what I believed was terror failed utterly. I soon realized why the symptoms I interpreted as his fear were so familiar. I had seen them before. On Monsters. The wide eyed body shivers weren't heart wrenching horror but excitement.
I realized my blunder instantly as my nose twitched violently as a new odor assaulted my magical senses. The concentration of Sekirei didn't just hide other Sekirei, it also hid the secretary's half-blood nature.
The smell of brimstone filled the air in increasing strength as the enemy in front of me underwent a transformation into a Crimson Red Vermillion, an Oni-Human half blood. Kakizaki's suit began to ripple as his muscles bulged to unreasonable degrees and his black hair began to take on a dark red tint signifying his transformation's near completion.
Akitsu must have realized the threat posed by the enemy had not ended despite lacking the knowledge of what was going on because before I could stop her she was already in the air charging at the new combatant.
She didn't stand a chance. Before she even had the opportunity to launch her attack the hybrid was upon her swinging his right hand, which by this point had become a claw. With enough strength to give a Servant pause he shredded her body in half, terminating her instantly.
It's a credit to Homura that he didn't hesitate in the face of the creature even after seeing such a horrify spectacle. He began charging the now fully transformed half blood the moment Akitsu was hit. He enveloped himself in an inferno if steeling melting flames charging the monster head on. It was a futile gesture. Kakizaki was descended from an Oni, a monstrous being born from immense firestorms, the heat put out by the Fire Sekirei was nothing compared to its tolerance.
CRACK
With a resounding echo, the monster's building leveling punch impaled its target on his arm, breaking every bone in the Sekirei's body as the force from the attack channeled through Homura. As the blood from the freshly made corpse pooled around him, Kakizaki lowered his arm to allow Homura's body to slide off of it.
Tsukiumi took the death of her rival and best friend as well as could be expected. She screamed in fury as her powers caused the waters left over from her earlier fighting to rise up into the air around her as she prepared to launch them at the Oni-hybrid. Unfortunately in her anger, she neglected to notice her former opponent, the kuniochi Sekirei, had advance towards her with frightening speed, terminating the water Sekirei by destroying her crest with an incantation.
As bad as things were I knew there was little I could do for my comrades, none the less anger arose inside me, I wouldn't let this monster harm anymore people. I faced off against it preparing myself as its original target, it would attack me next. I prepared to call out my noble phantasms to fight Kakizaki, summoning a legendary demon slaying blade to my hands.
"Shirou!" Musubi called out her eyes streaming tears as she looked at me. No. She was looking behind me.
I made the same mistake as Tsukiumi. I had forgotten about the other two enemy Sekirei that I had defeated earlier. Defeated but not eliminated. The green haired staff wielder stabbed her through my ribs from behind pinning me in place as the other Sekirei grabbed my left arm, preventing me finishing the demon exorcism technique needed to stop the transformed half-blood. Musubi began to rush towards me, hoping to stop what had now become inevitable. Kakizaki charged at me with his demon enhance speed, too fast for Musubi to reach me in time. As Kakizaki's clawed fingers reached towards me, intent on carving in my skull, I lamented on how stupid I was to leave England without saying farewell to Rin and Saber.
Bad End.
Omake: Fake Miya's Dojo
Wrath of the Moe
"Welcome to Miya's Dojo!"
Standing in the center of what appeared to be an elaborate Japanese training dojo stood was a young woman garbed elegantly in the trappings of a Shinto shrine maiden. Her purple hair was pulled back in a raised pony tail which flowed down her back and was held in place by ribbon tied in the shape of a bow. The most notable feature of the woman was her face which rested on the palm of her hand and radiated condescension as she looked upon the other inhabitant of the room.
Unfortunately for her he was paying absolutely no attention at all to her.
"Hmm, it appears to be some kind of reality marble or perhaps an advanced boundary field," muttered Shirou, who was too busy scribbling in a notebook to give any mind to the Miya as she tried lecturing him.
Miya, who after finally finishing her speech looked upon her audience, only to realize his state of inattention grew rather exasperated.
"Shirou"
Miya frowned with dismay and a not so small speck of glee as she tossed her ladle at Shirou, who merely tilted slightly to the side effortlessly dodging the projectile.
"Very well Shirou, I have no choice but to call upon the number one disciple of Izumo House."
At those words a shiver crawled across Shirou's spine drawing his attention away from the strange phenomenon he was investigating in time to hear the door behind him slide open.
"Oh Onii-chan" whispered the dreadful voice from behind him as Shirou inched away from the blonde haired adolescent girl entering the room while brandishing a whip.
"Now Kuu-chan why don't you put that down, it's dangerous" Shirou pleaded as he raised his hands in an attempt to placate the enraged girl.
"Where!"
"Is!"
"Meow-Meow!"
Kuu screeched in murderous fury as she charged towards Shirou.
"Oops." Muttered Shirou as vines wrapped around his body and prevented his escape from Kuu's wrath.
Bad End.
Real Miya's Dojo
"Hello readers, welcome to Miya's Dojo," Miya said giving a radiant smile, "this is where we explain what happened previously in the chapter."
Shirou glanced around the room a flash of uncertainty passing his face for an incredibly brief moment before adopting his usual calm expression. His inspection of his surroundings taking only a few seconds as he quickly determined that there was no immediate danger and begun to relax in spite of the obviously unusual situation now presented before him.
"Now in this chapter faced off against one of Japan's many demonic hybrids before being killed. None the less he did as well as could be expected considering not even his above average supernatural could detect due to the overwhelming scents presented by the numerous Sekirei and his injuries." Miya explained to her audience.
"Miya, who are you talking to?" Shirou asked hesitantly as even his numerous and varied experiences failed to prepare him for such an occurrence.
"However he did make a clear mistake. His failure to properly prepare his Sekirei with an introduction into the Moonlit World inhabited by both magus and monster alike caused this tragedy to happen. The Sekirei's lack of knowledge caused their disastrous lose to the half-blood as they were both caught off and did not know how to properly fight such a creature. Akitsu and Homura are both powerful Sekirei and had they been forewarned on the existence of such a beast would not have been as caught off guard and could of defeated the half-blood. Furthermore, Shirou failed to be mindful of his surroundings falling when he ignored the two Sekirei he was previously fighting to focus on the monster." Miya lectured as she somehow managed to say all of it in a single breath, undoubtedly due to her formidable physiology. "In the Omake on the other hand, Shirou really should know better than to upset an adolescent girl with superpowers."
Following the completion of her explanation, Miya proceeded to grab Shirou, who until than was listening patiently hoping to discover what sort of convoluted situation he found himself in, and toss him through the fourth wall and back into the story.
"That's all folks!"
Fin
