A Warrior Without A Master - Pilot Chapter 1

The sun was a fiery haze, low in the sky, and the air was still warm with the heat of summer. High above the sprawling metropolis, out of sight of the people crawling the streets, a winged figure cut through the air, sword trailing behind her as she tilted to the right, trimming her wings just enough to stall airflow for a moment, causing her to list sharply and drop like a stone. Lancing over her head, a sword slashed at the airspace she had just seconds ago occupied, and as she fell, she twisted over to look at her opponent.

"You're a dog without an owner, a Warrior without a Master! You cannot defeat me!" The demon roared, tattered wings beating the air with a frantic pulse as it tried to match the raven-haired girl's acrobatic arial movements.

Sweat beading on her forehead despite the cold brisk air blasting over her skin, the girl beat her wings hard and tried to gain some altitude on the demon. Unconsciously, controlling them as easily as every other muscle in her body, they tilted and trimmed of their own accord, manipulating air flow to replicate her every unconscious desire. Now, she dipped her head, aiming for the demon even as she brought her sword high over her head. Facial feature contorting in anger, her eyes narrowed and the muscles in her jaw tightened as she grunted, bringing the sharp blade down as hard as she could. The leathery skinned demon growled softly as he raised his sword to block the strike. The winged girl tensed her arms as their swords made contact, the metal-on-metal vibration numbing her arms. The demon's wings folded slightly, and he buckled under the strike, falling from the sky and out of reach of another attack.

Growling in frustration, the girl flared her wings wide, every beautiful white feather stretching out to catch the wind. Instantly, her wings filled with a pocket of air and slowed her to almost to a dead stop. Twisting her powerful hips, she spun around, wings folding around her to lessen the drag and speed up the movement. Dropping swiftly through the air, she spotted the demon a few hundred feet below her. Tucking her wings in, she fell under the full force of gravity, wind whipping at her hair and lifting her shirt from her toned stomach.

The ground rushed toward her now, approaching fast yet she was naught but confident. As she approached the level of the demon giving her so much trouble, she spread her wings once more. Catching the air, they snapped open violently and pulled her to a stop, the strain on her muscles pulling at her back, shoulders and lats. Whipping her sword around, she struck once more at the demon, not surprised when he blocked it easily.

How the hell was she going to defeat this one...? He was so damn strong...

Suddenly, a blinding pain erupted in the side of her head as his taloned hand came around quicker than lighting, striking her across the side of the face. Instantly, her skin tore, deep scratches across her throat and cheeks blossoming with warm blood. It splashed into her eyes, blinding her as she fell from the sky, disoriented and unable to control her fall.

She tried to spread her wings, but in her blindness failed to realize she was falling toward the earth head first, with her back toward the ground. The air caught her wings and whipped them around her body, fighting her muscles and keeping her from righting herself.

The only thing that ran through her mind before she impacted the glass was that she hoped she came out of this alive.

The impact itself wasn't too bad; she was going so fast that she obliterated the double-pane glass window without much trouble. She could feel jagged cuts slicing the skin on her arms and legs, but thankfully, it didn't feel like she was cut open deeply, or impaled.

The second impact was worse. Slamming into a lightly carpeted floor, it was a solid impact that jarred her teeth and rattled her brain. Instantly, a headache erupted in her head.

Then she heard the scream. Opening her eyes, she blinked until the blurriness faded. When her vision sharpened, she groaned and looked up from where she laid on the floor. At first, she couldn't make sense of the upside down shape she was seeing; then realized that it was someone standing over her. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she blinked again. Slowly, she began to make sense of what she was seeing.

A horrified brown-haired girl stood above her, hands over her mouth and brown eyes wide as she looked down at the girl on the floor.

"Are you okay?" She asked."T-there's blood everywhere!"

Slowly, the battered girl came to her senses. One of the first things she noticed was that her wings were gone. Was she really so damaged that she had lost the ability to manifest her wings?

000

"Asuna is actually really strong." Setsuna said quietly, and three pairs of eyes turned on her.

"Stronger than even I am. Her arrogance is certainly warranted. She's been at this almost as twice as long as I have, and in the short time I've known her, she's killed a staggering number of Demons. Most of them quite strong."

Asuna smirked, sitting cross-legged on the ground. Her massive sword was stuck tip-first into the ground next to her, and she reached over to pat it's dulled edge affectionately.

"There isn't much of anything that I'm afraid to tackle head on." She said. Beside her, also sitting cross-legged, a blonde haired girl reached over and wrapped her arms around Asuna's waist.

"Asuna's protected me since day one." She said, holding onto the fiery red-head for a moment until the girl's struggling made her relent her grip. Placing her hands back into her lap, she turned instead to smile warmly at the now-disgruntled warrior.

"And she's never let me down yet. I don't think she ever will."

Asuna snorted in derision, reaching toward the silent girl seated some few feet away from Setsuna and taking the water bottle from her grasp. Popping the top, she tilted it up and squeezed some water into her mouth. Pouring faster than she could swallow though, the water soon overflowed her thirsty mouth and slid down her cheeks and throat in teasing beads. Once satisfied, she recapped the water, and tossed it back to the silent girl before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Of course, you both know that it's not just me." Asuna explained. "Any strength I have is multiplied by my Master-in this case, Ayaka here." The blonde beamed once again, but this time kept her hands to herself.

"And it will work the same with you two." Asuna said, unconsciously reaching up and tugging at the thin black collar around her throat. Once she realized what she was doing, she sighed, then gestured to an identical one on Setsuna's throat.

"Her Master is her life. Setsuna must protect her Master, so that her Master can help her in battle. If her Master falls in battle, she will also. You two are a pair now, and you'd better get used to that fact."

There was silence for a moment, before Asuna stood. Reaching down, she held her hand out to Ayaka, her Master.

"Come." She said, speaking to the two girls still sitting on the ground. " Let us show you fledglings of combat how two hearts beating as one wage war on Demons."

Without waiting for an answer, Asuna closed her eyes, hand still clasped in her Masters'. Ayaka bowed her head and muttered a quick spell. A second later and the Earth itself seemed to throb and pulse. One. Two. Three.

Suddenly, the sky was engulfed in fire and a brilliant, savage wave of heat washed over them as the sky immediately darkened until it was hard to see your own hand in front of your face.

There was no smoke, just an intense, stifling heat that seared the oxygen from your lungs and made your eyes water and skin burn.

"A basic summoning spell." Setsuna managed to gasp, leaning closer to her Master. "Ayaka is summoning some Demons for Asuna to have a bit of fun with."

Her Master nodded, clearly new to the whole thing and trying to grasp the concept. She decided that she would just watch, and see what happened.

A low, bass-like thrumming filled the air, growing more powerful until the air itself seemed to vibrate. Louder it became, until it seemed it could become no louder. Then, it abruptly disappeared.

For a moment, there was silence. Aside from the crackling of flames from the burning red sky, there was silence.

It seemed to stretch on for an infinity, although in reality, it was only a second or two.

And then with a noisy, fiery crash, all hell broke loose.

A/N: This is gonna be epic.