For some time they were known as Kaii.
Taking the form of great beasts of legendary size. The Neuroi are a form of Kaii and while the neuroi are a seemingly new threat, the kaii have been around for centuries.
They have been reshaping our world as the apex predators. Naturally we of humanity were their enemies. That said, nobody knows where magical power we used to fight them originated from, most take it for granted.
The abilities of my clan were forged in bloody destructive combat with the Kaii. For centuries we fought and for centuries we honed our hatred of the bloodthirsty fiends that have slain countless members of our clan and of humanity itself. We view the kaii as a scourge, a blight of unholy fire and death.
And it will be my clan that snuffs it out.
Our uniqueness originates from dark a ritual, a witch who used the power within the core of a defeated kaii to resuscitate her dead son. While her act of desperation was through pure love for her child it twisted his body in ways that she could not have anticipated and in his pain, hatred, and confusion. He created a massive blast of magical energy that scorched everything nearby. Killing the remnants of his clan who were battered, beaten down to the brink and shaken to their cores by the death of the clan leader, and the prodigal son who then proceeded to take his place.
Blaming the corruption of the kaii and the weakness of those who were killed by the blast of power. His power and hatred of the kaii only grew and he instilled the hatred in those who would be his successors.
In any event, through our unique power that he gained from this dark ritual known only as DEVOURING. He gained the powers of those nearby. Eating their energy like the kaii ate land, ground and minerals for energy even the fallen bodies and white shimmering shards of energy of the slain kaii were not safe from his devouring energy.
Or so that is the legend that we were told when we were kids.
Fast forward about five centuries and it is the year 1944 and I'm sitting next to Major Sakamoto Mio, a so-called War Hero and slayer of a respectable amount of neuroi.
She sits there in a black car looking at the dossier of a potential Strike Witch candidate, our most promising in fact. Yoshika Miyafuji. Her family apparently has a high magical potential and is known for their longer-than-average magical lifespan.
This potential strike witch is an interesting case. She has high magical ability but a very stern hatred for violence and war. Sakamoto seems oblivious to that.
"She doesn't really seem all that remarkable." I murmured through a sigh. I then glance at Sakamoto in the black car, uncovered top. We're parked on a road a distance from her as she rides on the back of some type of tractor pulling a small wagon.
"Yes… Yoshika Miyafuji, her athletic ability is average, her academic ability is average and the only place she seems to really accel at it—"
"Cooking." I finished her sentence and let out a deep breath.
"Even so, how do you intend to convince her to join?"
As I finished my sentence and looked through my binoculars again I noticed that the old man swerved off road and turned violently to avoid a raccoon, bear-like creature. The girls in the back were thrown from the vehicle which couldn't have been travelling faster than thirty kilometers per hour. One of them was thrown down the steep incline that the man was driving along and while I couldn't see from here. I knew she would not escape that unscathed.
"Not good." I murmured and ran to the car.
By the time Sakamoto had noticed the trouble I was in the driver's seat and turned the key, shifted her into gear and floored it to our potential candidate. Spinning wheels and kicking dust. The only obvious sign of detectable emotion.
A bright glow was emitted from the area as we neared the wrecked vehicle. I slammed on the brakes. The tractor was beginning to smoke, and Sakamoto ran down to the girls. I took the opportunity to turn the ignition off so it didn't erupt into flames and then ran down to help her.
I turned and noticed Sakamoto had stopped. She merely stood in awe of her power. But we both came to a sudden realization, Miyafuji lacked control and was panicking from the sight of her friend's blood. I didn't exactly know the first thing about that kind of power, and healing magic was known to simply directly transfer magical power to me and enhance my inherent regeneration.
"Help her." I gave Sakamoto a nudge and she immediately went running to her side, while I stayed outside of her spell radius.
It seemed that Yoshika's friend Michiko was injured during her fall out of the wagon, a small rock outcropping the way down the steep incline. was sharp and appeared bloodied. But it was small and the depth of her puncture wound was likely insignificant. Still, she was losing a lot of blood and required medical attention. With a flick of my wrist I destroyed the outcropping of stone so that the same thing wouldn't happen twice.
Sakamoto gave me a look, and Miyafuji's gaze met mine for an instant. She returned focus on her friend and her dome of magic grew larger, in response I stepped back.
Miyafuji collapsed her magical power depleted.
But Sakamoto caught her before she fell on her friend. "She's drained all of her magical power but the wound of her friend has closed. They're both unconscious!"
I ran down to help her, picking up her friend with care. The blood has coagulated, and the healing process has started but it would need a few final touches from additional healing magic.
"Her guardians at the Miyafuji Clinic." Is all I said as we loaded them into the car. I turned to the old man. "Get in."
"Is Michiko, going to be alright? I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault." I stated bluntly, it's probably the thing he wanted to hear most. Though we confirmed that Miyafuji does indeed have what it takes to become a Strike Witch. Thanks to this man's heinous driving skills.
Sakamoto slammed the vehicle into gear and I held Michiko in my arms, her legs dangled over the top of the car door and we ripped through the forest and along the road. Casting huge dust plumes behind us.
Maybe the man's driving skills weren't so bad after all, compared to Sakamoto's anyway. After many twists, turns, and drifts around the sides of curbs leaving streaks of black behind to mark our path we pulled up in front of the clinic. Sakamoto slammed her foot on the breaks, and we came to an abrupt stop. Nearly lost the girl in my arms to something far worse than a mere flesh wound despite my tight grip on her body.
Moving as a man with a purpose I kicked the cardoor out and rushed to the front of the clinic with the worried expressions of Miyafuji's grandmother and mother to greet me. "Her friend's hurt, we found them along the road. Involved in a mobile vehicle accident."
They both nodded in unison and stepped aside for me to take her to the operating table. Which I did, with due haste.
"Thank you, we'll take it from here."
"I nodded with a deep sigh and looked on as Yoshika was laid to rest in on the floor with a sheet as a blanket."
I made way to the door and the old man was breathing heavily. "Sir, don't worry. She's in good hands. And you have nothing to blame yourself for, it was an accident. Nothing more than that. She'll be fine and it'll be like nothing ever happened." I spoke with a smile, to put his heart and mind at ease.
"Oh… Michiko…" He murmured and slowly shuffled past me to gaze upon the unconscious body of his grand daughter who was being healed by Miyafuji Sayaka, who was Yoshika's mother.
"Yamakawa-san." The grandmother, Akimoto Yoshika approached him and set a hand on his shoulder. "Your granddaughter will be fine, the wound itself was superficial. It didn't do any serious or permanent damage. We'll keep her here to let her rest and remove any potential scarring."
"Ahh… thank goodness…" He murmured and seemed to be out of it. Most likely the fatigue of being in a wreck combined with the mental strain of seeing his granddaughter hurt.
"Kayde, drive the man home and meet me back here."
I nodded in reply, then sank into the driver's seat of the vehicle. The old farmer got into the passenger seat and with that I began to drive him home. He directed me and the trip took a little longer than I expected. Dusk turned to night and he offered quick thanks as he got out and walked inside his home.
I turned around and headed back the way I came. The way to the clinic was straightforward. I noticed the steering wheel started to glow a dim red. "Eyes are adjusting to the dark…"
Indeed, my eyes glowed in the dark.
With a sigh I came to a stop in front of the clinic and turned the engine off. Since I couldn't go inside unless I was fully intending on revealing my glowing eyes, I moved to the passenger seat and closed my eyes. Then laid my head against the back of the seat.
The feeling in my body began to fade.
I fell asleep. Then roused from it by the voice of Sakamoto.
"Tired?" She asked bluntly.
"The members of my clan do not get tired or sleep, we merely close our eyes and meditate for extended periods of time."
"That so?"
I slowly opened my eyes and the world was moving, and for some reason Sakamoto was looking down at me.
"Wh-what the hell?!" I threw myself out of her arms and wiped the trail of saliva from the side of my mouth with the back of my sleeve. To think I'd drool in my sleep. Truly embarrassing.
"I see you're finally awake." She said with laughter and hit me on the shoulder.
"I told you. It's dangerous for witches or those with magical abilities to touch me… it's possible that I might absorb all the power you have and cause harm." I explained to her once again, hoping that it would get through to her this time.
"Yes… yes… but has that ever actually happened?" She acknowledged then asked dismissively.
I yawned and let out a deep sigh. She clearly didn't care or had full faith in my ability to control my power. That was… reassuring. I just hoped that she'd take responsibility if she got hurt.
"Oh yes, I spoke to Miyafuji before I left…"
"And what did she say of becoming a Strike Witch?"
"She said no, but I know she'll come around. Call it intuition."
"So we're relying on intuition to recruit our most promising candidate. At our final stop."
"By the way… you didn't mention that your eyes glow in the dark."
I nodded slightly. "It didn't seem like a detail worth mentioning. They also let me see in the dark, although everything is red."
"Interesting. The Night Witches could use some backup on their patrols, I'll keep that in mind."
"You make it sound like I agreed to pilot a Striker Unit."
"Well, your sister seemed confident that you would join."
"You don't seem to understand a fundamental flaw in that reasoning, can I pilot a Striker Unit? Will it fly? Is it compatible with my power?"
"We won't know until we try."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"Then we make something that is compatible with your power."
I slowly exhaled from my nose. "And until that happens you intend to continue dragging me around to absorb debris energy of destroyed neuroi to gradually build my power?"
"Yes." She said with a grin.
"And you want me to keep investing the power absorbed from those neuroi into bullets that you use in your weapons?"
"Yes." Her grin did not fade.
For some reason. I was now hoping that I could fly a striker unit so that I could personally destroy the neuroi and directly absorb the core instead of being force into an auxiliary role against my natural sworn enemy. Nothing was more humiliating than being unable to fight, only helping others do it despite having the strongest hatred and concern inducing bloodlust.
"What if she decides not to join at all?"
She thought for a moment. "If it comes to that I'll leave it in your hands."
"I might not be as nice as you but I will get results."
I decided to put an end to this conversation and took in my surroundings. Much to my chagrin, we were in Sakamoto's personal quarters.
As the men and women of the fleet were segregated as standard protocol. This was a gross violation of military regulations. "Is there a reason we're in your quarters?" I asked her.
"It didn't seem right to leave you in the men's barracks with all of them gawking at you as I carried you in my arms throughout the base."
True humiliation has eluded me all these years, up until this very moment.
"Your cheeks are bright red, ha ha ha ha!" She erupted into laughter.
"I'll remember this… and I'll never forgive you for it." I laid back on the bed and rolled over, closing my eyes and pulled the blanket over my head.
"Idiot." I murmured under my breath.
Consciousness faded, and despite all my paranoia of the neuroi and the humiliation that Sakamoto brought me this night. I felt at ease.
For the first time in too long.