Chapter 1: Introduction
At a certain place in China—inside of a huge abandoned building, members of a certain Faction were standing behind of the black-haired man. The people near the handsome young man had equally stern expressions while the others in the back had unreadable expressions as if they have no life, their eyes had no glints which made it more unbearable to the person with beautiful spear to look at them.
Still, the resolve in the blue eyes of the same man who had charisma of a leader was powerful enough to completely ignored the hideous acts that they did to them.
"They are late," said one of the person who was standing near the handsome young man. The person who had talked was a man who had sunglasses. "They should be here by now."
The charismatic one merely sighed, "Yes, they should have. But they are currently working where that person constantly appearing…" the eyes of the man closed, resignation could be seen in his face, "I fear that certain person felt their presence."
"I see…" the other man said as the shadows under his feet moved a little bit, "That person certainly a problem. A thorn that we should've removed a long time ago."
The leader of the group didn't reply, but the person near the shadow-user did tell his piece. "As if you can kill the guy, we couldn't defeat him, we couldn't even force him to take us seriously."
The man with sunglasses snorted, "We can, if we and the other low-ranking members of our faction joined forces and attack him."
"That we did," the man who was wearing a native chinese uniform frowned, "We've been defeated by the same person. If wasn't for Georg then we would have been dead already. I bet only our leader or Georg can defeat him, maybe the Pendragon siblings."
"We will not," the leader straightforwardly said. It was a subtle warning that those who can understand accepted without any objections, "He is special. I want to recruit him… the skills and abilities of that person are top-notch. Just imagine it, with the one that holds the title of the [Monster of the East] our firepower and the chances of our plans to succeed will skyrocket."
The jet-black haired man smirked, "Not to mention, he is currently one of the thirteen Longinus wielder."
"But is it a wise decision? He is being a thorn to our faction after that incident with the undead we had unleashed few months ago in Tokyo to assassinate the commander of all Youkai of East Faction." The sunglasses-wearing man looked at the leader, "How about the [Red Knight] we can't recruit that certain person, especially their connection with the Knight of Treachery."
The handsome young man's expression became unreadable. It unnerved the other members of his faction yet he didn't lessen the coldness in his aura. "Yes, it will be. I just need to create a plan. A plan that will make that person to think twice before helping those furry creatures. And about that swordsman," the handsome man smirked arrogantly, "Sooner or later, with or without us, the one who wields [Clarent] will meet their demise."
"But what about the Fallen Angels who are also hunting for their identity?" The man with a bow asked hesitantly.
"Nevermind them," the black-haired young man with a spear snorted, "If we can't find any information about him what makes you think those idiots can do? The only thing that I'm concerned about is their leader."
"Why?"
"Why?" The spear-user let out a dark chuckle before his face showed a sneer, "It is because he is Azazel."
"Damn it!" A man with an impressive stature spat as he used the armguards on his arms to block the sharp cold projectiles from piercing his flesh. The majority of the blue darts made from ice were waved off, but it had proven that if the man have failed to defend against the icicles, he would be now a pincushion as the rest of the projectiles easily pierced the ground. "Can someone already support me!? And destroy that irritating feline!?"
The man who had yelled was wearing an old type of Greek armor. Bronze armor hugged his well-built body and have almost covered his entire stature.
His eyes glares at the flying figure as his eyes snapped to his side when a woman giggled.
"What's the problem, Hera-chan?" The blonde asked the behemoth of a man, "You love fighting, right? I remember you were excited to face Kitty-tamer-kun and kept on saying ''I'll smash him with my arms and blow him into pieces'' like twenty minutes ago."
The eyebrow of the man twitched in annoyance as his glare found another target.
"Oh~ Hera-chan is mad now! Hahaha~" the woman who was holding a rapier in her right hand laughed despite of the fact that they were currently in the middle of the battlefield. The blonde woman was wearing a type of battle-dress with a short blue skirt as the rest were coated with metal and a pair of metal boots and gauntlets. Her cerulean eyes became watery as she clutch her stomach with her free hand. "And now you are asking to kill that cat? Oh come on Hera-chan~ that would be an animal abuse and it is just only watching the show."
"Have anyone told you that you are irritating son of a bitch, Jeanne?" Heracles, the one who inherited the spirit of the true Heracles snarled.
"Nope!" Retaliated by the one who had the soul of Joan of Arc with her usual happy tone.
"I am surprised that you still haven't killing each other," their attention snapped as their heads turned into the one who had interrupted them. The person was crouching quite lazily on top of the street light post while staring down at them with a blank face.
The strands of his unkempt blue hair were moving involuntarily because of the shockwave that came from the other side where the other two members of the Hero Faction had been fighting against his comrade. The half of his face was covered by his long bangs.
The bluenette was wearing an ordinary black shirt that was matched by a black trousers and a pair of blue sneakers. His visible grey eye glanced over his shoulder to the path where the shockwave originated before staring once again at his enemies.
"That's how we normally communicate with each other, no biggie, Blue-kun~" she cooed, but something was telling him that she was trying to get into his skin. Jeanne sheathed her rapier into its cover before two swords with golden handles manifested in the air before grasping them with both of her hands. "You did a good number on me earlier and it's time to for some payback!" She swung the two swords in a X-shape style as the holy energy with the same shape burst into life and hurled at him.
The bluenette didn't move from where he was crouching even if there was something that could separate him into four parts. Before the energy could connect to its target, a large golden lion dove from the sky to intercept the holy energy— which it did quite easily when Jeanne's attack disappeared.
The huge lion landed on its four as it growled at the two and its equally golden eyes narrowed at them.
"Mou~ that's cheating! How could that golden kitty block my holy attack without receiving any scratches?" The blonde weakly complained as she gave him a pout, but what they received was another wave of magical projectiles after the bluenette had waved his hand quite lazily as several magical crests had appeared out of nowhere. Like earlier, it didn't harm the two yet Jeanne wasn't glad at all because some of them inflicted holes in her dress. "Can you stop undressing me in such a brute manner?"
"What?" The blue-haired young man deadpanned at her, "Do you want me to undress you inside of a room full of rose petals and candles?" He straightforwardly and sarcastically asked the blonde as he shook his head when he had seen his companion tilted its head towards him it was the lion's way to give a comment about his sarcastic comments.
The legendary lion suddenly leaped at the direction where the shockwave had originated.
"Well~ I really don't mind if someone with your face undress me," she wiggled her eyebrows, only receiving a couple of sighs. "Ne~ aren't you a bishounen? I heard the term from Fay-chan and she said it was a word that describes a boy who is perfect in appearance."
He sweat dropped at the fact that he was being hit on by his opponent, looking at the tall man, it seemed her attitude was normal to them. Luckily, her companion, Heracles deemed it was necessary to break the topic as behemoth of a man threw a block of stone at him, forcing him to jump off. Before he could land on the ground, he had almost received two blades into his body as he blocked the blades after the bluish aura engulfed his entire body and used his both hands to avoid being stabbed by the cheerful sword-user.
"Tch, another trick eh…" Jeanne was about to draw her rapier when the bluenette kicked her midsection. Because of the physical strength of the boy and the increase he received after the blue aura engulfed his body, Jeanne went into the air as she hit a wall and fell unconscious.
"I was holding up when I was fighting her earlier," the bluenette turned his attention to the one who was still standing, "But maybe using Touki was a little bit overkill, don't you think so?" He asked the huge man rhetorically.
In response, Heracles merely took his stance and ready to face him, "Jeanne has terrible defense," Heracles shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe that's why he put me as her partner." The man looked around as if he was searching for something, "Where's your Sacred Gear?"
The bluenette sighed inwardly when he almost have acquired some information about their group. But he could get it after the fight. He rose an eyebrow, "Oh? I sent him to provide assistance to my companion, stating the fact those blondes are more powerful than both of you."
Heracles gritted his teeth after hearing his not so subtle insult, the bluenette wasn't sure whether the man was angry at him when he had insulted him broadly or the fact that he was still in his lax posture showing his confidence that he could take the possessor of the [Variant Detonation] without any problems.
The two was about to clash against each other when the bluenette stopped from his tracks immediately after noticing the smoke slowly becoming visible. Because of his reaction time and the raw speed that rose drastically because of Touki, he successfully from getting away from the smoke after his instinct shouted at him.
'No… it is not a smoke,' the bluenette thought to himself as he watched closely around him, 'It's a fog.'
If the bluenette didn't have enough experience he would've just paid no attention and continue on fighting but countless battles he had been through, he knew it wasn't an ordinary fog. That, and the fact that they had escaped from him in their last confrontation last month using fog merely supported his claim that someone who could use fog or had magic related to fogs were helping them.
The fog did not possess any kind of magical properties so it removed the possibility that it was created through magic or spell. Either it was because of a Vampire or a Sacred Gear he was not sure at all.
He couldn't hear anything. With his augmented senses, he should have heard something. Using his feet and the aura around him, the bluenette jumped to the nearest highest thing that he could see and was surprised when he saw nothing but empty streets. Sensing that the barrier around them completely wore off, he wrestled back the aura around his body and put it again inside of his body to avoid exhausting himself.
"I haven't stretched my arms for a while," the bluenette sighed loudly, "I thought I could finally fight without holding back much of my strength."
"If you are disappointed—" the blue-haired boy stared down to see an armored person with his loyal lion beside of the newcomer. "Then count me on it."
Standing on the broken road was a warrior clad in red, wearing plate armor compelte with a breastplate, spaulders, gauntlets, and greaves. The face of the newcomer wasn't visible because of the steel helmet with horns that covered everything.
If Heracles's armor was heavy enough for his eyesight, what that person's wearing made him wince. The person was completely covered in thick armor, and by him saying completely covered he meant it. Not even a tiny amount of skin could be seen, greatly hidden that person's entire frame from head to toe.
Despite of the short stature of the person possessed, the warrior was moving with ease, not to mention the long decorated sword in the person's right hand. The blade easily reached its user's shoulder. He was sure he would have to use both of his hands to fight properly with it, he could handle the weight while he was under the effect of Touki but the curse inside of the sword made him aware that no one aside from its user and his descendant could touch the handle without falling to its corruption.
A cold shiver ran through his spine when he remembered that certain situation when he had been forced to grab its hilt. And that was something that he didn't want to repeat.
"Can you remove that armor?" His stoic face didn't change when the knight exuded their imposing aura. "And thank you," he said when he felt the armored knight was going to say something.
Suddenly, a red magic circle with unreadable runes sprouted on the ground, under the swordsman's feet. Red light engulfed her entire height and when the light died down, a young woman came into view with a scowl on her face. The girl stored her armor and the infamous sword into her own pocket dimension.
Even though she removed her armor, the golden-eyed lion was still on her side, watching them with mild expression and merely tilted its head when it saw the blonde's expression.
The spirit of the Sacred Gear chose to not join in their conversation because it would only lead into a more complicated situation.
"Look who's talking," the girl started while looking at him with a mocked anger, "how about you already come down and stop being a weirdo with blue hair, Minato."
He sighed to her underhanded come back when he was only concerned about her appearance. But with her current normal clothes? Minato decided to ignore her comment and remained on staring at her without any expression.
Their size were almost the same, as he surpassed her only a full head. The girl wore her hair in a messy ponytail with strands of hair framing both side of her face.
She was wearing a bright red leather jacket with a white tube top underneath of it. Because of her chosen clothes that left the majority of her midriff exposed, it gave a free access to see her perfectly toned stomach. Also, she was wearing a tiny pair of daisy dukes with a thick black belt with silver studding. Completing the ensemble was a pair of black combat boots studded with silver decorations.
"What are you looking at?" Before she could tease him again, he was going to explain why when suddenly she smirked as she moved her eyebrows gently, far slower than the normal. "Oh~ are you perhaps looking at me with an intent to ravage my innocent body?"
The visible part of his face twitched. Minato stared at her blankly while thinking about something important. It had been years since they met and became partners but not even once in those times that the girl have shown something innocent.
In all honesty, the only thing that innocent were her sizes-
His thoughts had been cut off by an uppercut that sent him into the air. It was so fast for him to evade or block, but more importantly, how did she find out that he was ridiculing her?
Women and their unbelievable sharp instinct.
With a loud thud noise, Minato fell down to the ground but he quickly sat up as if it didn't hurt him. When in reality, it greatly hurt him and his chin. He started to rub his chin as he saw her forest-green eyes narrowed greatly.
If he hadn't known the blonde better he might have ran away after seeing such fierce expression.
"Why did you punch me?" He asked just to make sure.
"I had a feeling that you were insulting me," she said as her shoulders moved up and down, showing she didn't care.
Now, if only she would stop looking at him as if he was some kind of a pervert.
"Monnie," the eyes of the blonde suddenly widened as she averted her gaze, "Have I ever insulted you?" Minato didn't want to use one of her secret weaknesses but if they have continued on their former topic— no doubt, he would receive another punch.
Monnie was the nickname he had given to Mordred after she had confessed how she hated her given name. And it seemed the rude and boyish girl cherished the nickname. But there was another reason why he chose Monnie as her nickname… it was because of her love for money. It was a secret though, and he didn't want him to get beaten by the descendant of the real Mordred.
On the contrary to what people believed that he was an oblivious— even Monnie did believe he was a 'clueless womanizer idiot'— it was completely wrong. He wasn't as dense as they have thought, he just thought it was too troublesome.
He knew that Monnie was infatuated with him, if not then her face wouldn't be that red. It was like Mordred's smooth white skin were being marinated in a tomato sauce. Or maybe he just overthinking some things that really have no meanings.
But one thing for sure, his surprise attack was effective.
"I'm gonna get something to eat to forget my disappointment when that freaking fog stole my chance to beat my co-descendants…" she turned her face to the side to avoid a direct eye contact while both her arms crossed over her chest, "It's my treat so…"
"Of course," Minato nodded but remembered that he was still on the ground he was going to stand up when he saw Mordred stretched her hand towards him to support him which he accepted without thinking twice. Mordred easily pulled him. "I will have five bowls of mega-sized ramen then."
They began to walk away from the place when suddenly Mordred sighed in irritation as she realized something, "Forgot that we have both large stomachs to store the food. Another minus in my wallet."
He chuckled a little bit, before his expression became serious, "You have a lot of money, Monnie. Are you still extorting your 'friends'?"
It wasn't really the right word but they both agreed to settle with friends after the long heated argument because of how those bike gang members treated Mordred with utmost respect— even though Mordred treated them in the most awful way.
"I'm just doing it for the laughs," she smirked quite cheekily. "Besides, you can't be a villain without doing a crime or two, right?"
It was a rhetorical question so he paid no attention to it.
"By the way… where is Regulus? I didn't notice him moving away? Did you order him to go back or enter his weapon form?"
"I sent him to scout around the district."
Mordred sent him a judging look. "Yeah? Send a five-golden-meter lion to scout, because that would not gain any attention."
He ignored the sarcasm as he chose to explain. "I have perfected another technique by using the nature of Touki and with the help of some foreign magic, I can now hide Regulus' physical appearance without forcing him to withdraw or turn him into a weapon. And besides, Regulus can change his size and appearance to make him more a normal cat." Minato stared at Mordred, "We are too shorthanded. And if they could sprout out of nowhere easily twice then we should raise the district's defense. No doubt that they already have found out that Shinjuku is our base of operations.
"Hm… should we take some preemptive actions?"
Minato sighed, it was rare for him to show his exhaustion through his face, "Our knowledge about their group is lacking. The only thing that we know is that they are kidnapping some people, attacking different kinds of Youkai and their members are composed of descendants of heroes and Sacred Gear users."
Mordred sneered at what he had said before she cackled, "To see and hear the descendants of the great O-freaking-King of Knights doing something worse than what I am doing right now is beyond ironic." She suddenly frowned, "If only that fucking fog haven't interrupted us then maybe those two Pendragon were already eating dusts."
He was really curious where the dark emotion was coming from. Whether Monnie's hatred towards the King of Britain was passed down by her parents or it was because of the curse of the blade, it was mystery to him. That might be because he wasn't a fan of western legends. He suddenly remembered something important, "I am not going to bail you out again."
Believe him or not, Mordred was imprisoned so many times in a police station— to the point that he found her playing poker with some of the officers while she was detained— because of her antics.
"Yeah, noted," she saluted sarcastically.
However, the two shortly found their plan would be postponed because of the people in front of them who were wielding some sort of black firearms— majority of them were being pointed at them— with scanty black-themed outfits with red outlines. Minato's eyes widened in surprised, he couldn't believe they successfully built a functional armor. The woman who was standing on the ground courageously crossed her arms over her chest while the rest who had weapons were floating in the air.
Mordred whistled, "They are really asking for it." Minato was the only one who understood what she truly meant while the rest looked at her with confusion on their faces. "How can one guy be so lucky?" The blonde grinned at him and waggled her eyebrows, "This must be a feast for your eyes, right? Minato-kun~?
He decided to ignore her subtle indecent comment and teases and focused on the newcomers— When his eyes met theirs, it caused them to flinch, some of them kept on shuddering, visibly on how their rifles were shaking—and then to the black-haired woman who met his eyes with a glare.
"Why am I not surprised?" Was all he asked to himself.
"When do you gonna remove this tumor in our heads huh? Minato?" Mordred casually asked, paid no attention at the army and stared boredly at the woman in camouflage uniform. "That woman is a pain in the ass." Her eyes glinted maliciously after her earlier statement met a mechanical noise coming from one of the guns, "Oh~? I am little pent up because of the lack of action earlier so I wouldn't mind taking some bitches."
"Really, Monnie?" Minato said in low tone, only allowing Mordred to hear him. "Are you really provoking?"
"I need to reach my quota."
"Whatever," he sighed.
The raven-haired woman huffed and drew her black gun from her hips and aimed at him, "We've met again, Arisato Minato. And this time, you are coming with us." Her eyes surveyed the road and broken walls, "Destruction of public property, another crime. You truly love making my life miserable."
"Consider it as a payback, Kusakabe-san," he merely ignored the hateful scowls from the other side. "And Shinjuku is my turf so back off." Minato had tried to impersonate the gang leader however because of his blank tone he failed miserably. All of them dropped a cold sweat, even Mordred deadpanned at him.
"What? I thought it was great."
"Sometimes you ars weird... But this time, you're suck."
He shot her a dirty look which Mordred returned the gesture by sticking her tongue at him.
The woman named Kusakabe cocked her gun, "You too blondie, you are under arrest or we will be forced to put you down."
Mordred snorted, "As if your toys could harm us. Hell, you are already lucky if those can scratch my armor. Seriously? Don't you have anything else to do than following us like a goddamn love sick puppy?"
Veins popped up on the side of the soldier's forehead, showing that she didn't take Mordred's insults nicely. "Last warning," Kusakabe started slowly, her words alerted the other girls as their guns began to glow. Somehow, he felt Mordred jinxed him once again. It seemed the rifles weren't normal like they had thought. Small red magical circles appeared in front of the muzzles. "Surrender peacefully or we will open fire."
Mordred's feral grin made him aware that even if he didn't want any trouble the blonde would still fight them. But still, how did they complete her project without the blueprints? Crimson circle with unreadable runes sprung on Mordred's right hand before Clarent manifested.
"Monnie," the blonde didn't look at him as her full attention was solely fixed on the flying figures but he knew she was still listening, "equip your armor. If I am right, there will be unknown effects upon direct contact."
"Alright then!" Like what he ordered her to do, Mordred immediately equipped her full-body armor and took her stance as darker shade of red covered the entire frame of Clarent. "You can take the boss lady and I will give the small ladies there a good beat down."
It annoyed the girls in the air before the looked down at their breasts. One of them, the one with brown hair styled in twin ponytail pointed her finger at Mordred, "Don't call us small when yours are the smallest!"
Minato sighed in exasperation when the supposed serious conversation turned into a more feminine one, he swore that all the girls were growling and looking at Mordred and completely disregarded his presence.
"Oh~" Mordred's tone was a little bit off, it was shaking, "You got a sharp tongue eh… LET ME CUT IT OUT FOR YOU!" She swung her sword, red energy hurled at the flying figures that forced all of them to abandon their positions after seeing how wide Mordred's offensive strike was. Spider-web cracks formed on the ground where the blonde was standing. She didn't have any ways to fly but she had used her strength to launch herself at the poorest member of the group and punched the girl using a fist covered in gauntlet. With her strength and the gauntlet, it effectively knocked the girl down as she landed on top of the roof, "I will beat the shit out of you all!"
While the rest were facing Mordred, Minato merely stayed on his position, "This would get a lot of attention you know."
"Don't worry about it," Kusakabe pulled out a black knife, "The new [Anti-Supernatural Threat Team] is not like in the past. Before we have confronted you, we placed the whole area in some sort of spell by using a special item. I don't know the mechanics but they said it will create a field that can block anybody and revert the damages caused by the fight."
Minato could not help but to be surprised. Since when did the special division became humane? "Do you want to continue this? Looks like your soldiers are losing?" Minato pointed at Mordred and the soldiers. Truth to his words, numerous girls were already unconscious, laying on the ground with their armors in tattered mess as the already skimpy outfits became more indecent. Few of them were in awkward positions, courtesy by the descendant of Mordred. Only few remained, and they were exceptionally trained for them to exchange blows with Monnie with their advanced swords.
His instincts suddenly flared up, and if he didn't listen to it, then his entire face might have a huge vertical slash on the middle of his face when he barely dodged her knife. It seemed they were really serious about capturing him, Kusakabe was not holding back anymore and caught him off guard. It appeared the black-haired woman knew that slowly, they were the ones losing the battle because of how quickly Mordred defeating her opponents. Minato moved his head to the side to dodge, but the moment he did the muzzle of her handgun faced him. However, what the woman did not know was his palm reached her abdomen and with the force he placed on it, it sent Kusakabe several feet away from him.
"Ugh, I'd forgotten your skill in Martial Arts." Minato was amazed that she could still talk despite of the blood leaking from her mouth. "They really have underestimated you-..." her shocked expression did let him know the pain finally registered in her body. She dropped to her knees as the weapons she had in her hands fell when she used her arms to hug her stomach.
"Don't worry," Minato casually said, "It won't kill you but the pain will stop you from moving for a while." He explained the damage of the technique he had used to her before walking towards her. He picked the gun before staring at it with blank face, "You know, it was impossible to create something like this without the necessary materials, right?"
The black-haired office did not answer. Either because of the pain or it was classified information. He shrugged his shoulders before dropping the gun, when it had reached the ground, Minato destroyed it by stepping upon it.
While his face didn't show anything, his eyes were empty, enough to make the Captain of the AST felt disturbed by the coldness behind of the look he was giving to her.
"Yo!" Hearing Mordred's voice he turned around to face after making sure that his opponent was equal to her comrades by knocking her down with a chop on the head. "I would've said she was pretty weak if you weren't her opponent. Thought you were gonna play with her after seeing your disappointment earlier."
"Not in the mood," was all he said before walking away from the area full of unconscious bodies. He swore he had seen some of them were hanging on top of the posts. A small awkward smile crept onto his lips after he saw two of the girls were positioned into a... lewd one.
"Do you like what I did?"
He didn't answer. Simply because he was speechless.
The blind rage had taken me to do the impossible after my former wielder died when those beings assaulted them in the Human World. I hunted them down, those same beings who took my master's life in front of my usual form as an axe.
However— I did not stop from there. After I've avenged the death of my master, the battle took down majority of the settlement. I... didn't want them to be caught in conflict, yet those monsters did not care about that.
It was bloody. What had happened to those innocent people was something that I would never forget. It just fueled my desire to take them down to spare anyone from becoming their victims. With my mind was blinded by my animal instincts, I had forgotten that, I was also the reason why the collateral damage had become undesirable.
That was when I met him.
We were enemies. I was labeled as a Supernatural Threat that time because of the countless destruction I had brought in this country. I know even with my power, I couldn't face those trained soldiers, especially when I couldn't use all of it due to me, being a Sacred Gear without a wielder.
We have fought. I was mesmerized by his strength, he had taken me without any assistance from his allies. I was amazed that he could take all of my attacks that I have sent to him. I was captivated with his sense of justice as he saved those normal humans from getting caught in the dirty tactics of the remaining killers of my former master.
The very man who had stopped me from losing my rational thinking did the impossible as he tamed me.
That was when I have decided to be his Independent Sacred Gear. Sacred Gears, even with those who had consciousness, couldn't choose their next possessor. But I- or we did the impossible as my soul started to bound to his.
I had chuckled at the thought of defying His system. The one who had imprisoned me inside of the small cage surely did not expect me to destroy it as I manifested with my beast form. And, He would have never dreamed of someone claiming the Regulus Nemea as his own without being born with said Sacred Gear.
Since then, I took a vow to protect this young man. I will fight for him. I will follow his orders. Even if I need to throw my pride and honor just to stay by his side. I will.