A scarlet moon shone above, dousing the land in a blood light, as if the land itself was bleeding. Silence stretched across the plane, a sheet of death, not a creature daring to make a noise, warriors stood, clad in brilliant white armour, each carrying his own weapon, poised and ready to attack. A light mist shrouded the ground, ice clung to the air, as it cleared towards the sky, allowing the moon to colour everything below.

Suddenly, from the earth erupted an unworldly roar, sending the scene into complete blackness, and the warriors into panic. Seconds passed, the moon illuminating once more, shining down onto a split in the land. The warriors charged, bearing their weapons, to the giant trench. From the split, the shadows and flares of Hellfire raged, climbing the rift until it broke to the surface, charring the land and warriors, leaving nothing but black ash and scorches. As if waking from slumber, two shadows rose from the pit, settling on the burnt remains of life, one laughed lazily.

"It is done" He said to the other "Time to burn this land to the ground."

"Ka-chan!" a voice shouted from beside me, a voice that undoubtedly belonged to Rias, she had better have a reason to be here, instead of in her own castle. I cracked open one eye to see a curtain of blonde hair and blue eyes gaze down at me "you have to get up now! He has called an urgent meeting!"

With a groan I rolled from my bed, and swiftly put on my gear, if Father has called an urgent meeting, it must have something to do with battle. The golden gear was thick, yet light and airy enough to move around in, lastly, I pulled my scarf around my neck, the soft red material fitting comfortably, from years of wear. With a final check over my appearance and a swish of my white hair, I exited my chamber. When I had finished, Rias was already dressed and waiting outside, Mizuki leaning against the wall beside her, rubbing a cloth across her blade, she was always cleaning her weapons, an almost annoying habit that got her into trouble more often than not, for doing it at an inappropriate time. Asami stood next to her, a scowl etched onto her face.

I nodded to them and we set off, exiting our castle. As we passed through the Gate, the word 'Courage' gave off a golden glow as it always had, and a warm sensation filled my body. Light flashed before my eyes, an array of gold and red shining across my vision, and a weightless feeling filled my body. As the light subsided, the world returned to my feet, in the form of the crisp white marble floors of the His battle chambers, I took a step forward towards and found my seat at the large table in the centre of the room, Mizuki , Asami and Rias following suit.

The others had already gathered, Rias, Kotomi, Mizuki, Asami, Setsuki, myself and Chizuru all sat at the round table, The seat left available was at the head, a large throne with golden angels sculpted into its surface. Silently, a wisp of pale smoke engulfed the throne, once it had dissipated, revealing the King of the Holy Land.

"Children of my blood" His deep voice echoed "I have called you here of dire purpose, the worst we had feared for centuries has occurred. The demons have risen."

I felt my mouth open and my stomach drop. How, how could this have happened? We had taken every precaution, had warriors posted at all the weakest points in the Guard, each with a special incantation to hold the Demons at bay. "This couldn't have been the work of just any Demon" I said, my voice strained, as I gazed around the table. Each of the Angels looked in various states of shock. "They would have to be especially powerful to not only harness the wonders of the Blood Moon, but to break the Guard, and fight off some of our greatest warriors. Is there no way we can seal the rift?"

"You know there is not. Their arrival to the Holy Land has been for told for eons, we had just hoped we would have been able to postpone it for longer. We have no choice but to fight." He spoke, with a chilling authority in his tone. "The Book has told that the Demons are the blood of the Dark One, they are the embodiment of sin, we cannot defend the Holy Land with our ordinary warriors. You are the only ones capable of stopping them, and sending them back the Hellfire."

A chill filled the room, the embodiment of sin, they were the strongest Demons in existence, from the blood of His opposite, and therefore ours. "I say we send in some warriors, let them take care of the lesser demons, whilst we charge in, give them a declaration of war that will send 'em running back to where they came from as quickly as they came." Asami said, earning a groan from Setsuki and Chizuru.

"You know full well we cannot just attack without a plan, Asami." Setsuki said.

"That is a plan" Asami huffed

"Not a good one" Chizuru finished, "Father, what do you think we should do?"

As much as I wanted to charge straight in and finish this quickly, the Angels from the house of Prudence did have a point. We couldn't underestimate out enemies. They are the strongest demons of all time, each a personification of sin itself. Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Envy and Pride, a counterpart for each of the Children of the Light. This wouldn't be a battle that was easily won, this was going to be a war, a war between the children of Light and Dark, Angel versus Demon. And we had a sworn duty to protect our people and country, as the Angels of virtue, we needed to fight.

"We will call on Riko, she will create a battle plan alongside myself. Rias, bring her to me, the rest of you, dismissed until I call you. I suggest you to begin to train."

With short goodbyes, we left the battle chamber, and made our way to the palace training ground. Although each castle had its own training round, we always trained better together, as a team. I took a step onto the solid ground, it was perfect, the house of Courage's training ground was good, but nothing beat the palace one, the way the rock and dirt was compacted into a hard surface, the sound of the metal boots against the floor, the clink of metal on metal, even the smell of the dirt was intoxicating.

We each split up into our own warm up zone, away from distraction, but close enough to feel whole. I jumped onto the raised platform that was my own and began my warm up, a number of flips and stretches for agility and flexibility, strength training, and routines designed especially for speed training.

I felt a solid punch to the back and turned to see Rias smile, holding out my spear. I smiled back and took it from her grasp, cherishing the familiar weight in my hand. It was long, and extension of my own arm, carved of the most holy gold, it was almost a sword, with two small wings acting as, not only a hilt, but two extra prongs for injury. From the golden arm, sprung a crystal tip, that would never shatter. From the end hung a golden chain, so I could pull it back after my throws, and extend my reach It was beautifully crafted, like all the weapons of the Angels, but my spear was, by far, the most enchanting.

I gave it an experimental twirl, feeling the cool weight of it glide through my fingers, I jumped down from my platform, and followed Rias to the centre of the training ground, taking a fighting stance in the circle of the Angels. We sparred often, so we each knew the others fighting style, which only served to make battles harder to win, which was fine by me, a challenge was better than winning (though Mizuki may disagree). With a final look around, we charged in, I flung my spear at Chizuru, which she easily blocked with a flourish of her sturdy bow. In a flash, she had an arrow poised and fired it swiftly, tugging on the chain harshly, I flipping to the side, narrowly dodging the projectile. I smirked at Chizuru and ran at her, side stepping each of her arrows swiftly before swinging my spear into her side, the sound of its golden wing clashing with her armour music to my ears. Chizuru lifted her bow and brought it down over my neck, using the arc to hold me to her, as she delivered a succession of kicks and knees to my body. With graceful expertise, I twisted away from her and flipped us both, landing on top of her with a grunt, I pulled out from under her bow and slammed the end of my spear into her stomach, with enough force to dent her armour and make her cough blood.

Chizuru pulled an arrow from her quiver and stabbed it into my leg, a dull pain ached in my thigh, as I let out a small scream. I wasn't one to lie and say I had an extensive pain threshold, and although I have become used to wounds, they still hurt like hell. Chizuru sent my an apologetic smile before flipping herself off the ground and taking a fighting stance, that was her last arrow, leaving her with hand to hand combat. I shakily drew the arrow from my thigh, and thanked God for out fast healing abilities. The wound was shallow, and thus almost fully sealed. In the jest of a fair fight, I dropped my spear and rushed at her, sending my fists flying at her body, most of which she blocked, but she didn't get away unscathed, with a deep breath, we turned to offence, striking at me with swift combos that would make Asami proud, (with years of quick-draw and release, Chizuru was almost as fast as Asami, but then again no one was close to being as fast as Asami). I grabbed at her leg mid kick, and twisted, so she lost her balance, I used her momentum to pull her into my oncoming fist, and with a solid crack, my knuckles made contact with her cheek, sending her spiraling to the ground. With a final, lopsided smile, Chizuru shrugged her shoulders and weakly lifted her hands into defeat. I smiled back down at her, and helped her up, walking her over to the bench and sitting her down. "Nice spar Kaya" She breathed, holding her swollen cheek lightly. "You've improved since last time"

I gave a dismissive laugh and shrugged my shoulders "I think I better topic would be your speed, you're getting faster, been training with Asami to work on your draw and release time?"

Asami was the queen of speed, she was the fastest in the entire Holy Land, making her a formidable opponent. Speaking of which, I turned to see her and Mizuki standing bloodied and bruised in sloppy stances. They always sparred together, neither backing down, always going for the win. The only way to stop them was to let one of them pass out, or have Father make them stop, and whilst he was talking to Riko, it looked more likely today's spar was going to be the first option. They too had abandoned their blades (Asami preferring to wield dual katana, whilst Mizuki had one heavy blade) on the ground, and were continuing their fight fist to fist.

Further away on the rocky landscape of the west training ground, stood Rias, Setsuki and Kotomi. Rias was flinging her kunai towards Setsuki and Kotomi to keep them at bay whilst she waited for her injuries to heal. Setsuki had turned her attention to Kotomi, swinging her Dao at her body, who was blocking her efficiently with her gauntlets.

With a smile at Chizuru I picked up my spear and bounded over to Rias, flipping onto the rock she was healing on, and pulled one of her discarded kunai from the rock face, shabbily throwing it to her feet. She jumped back at the sight of it, and sent a small glare my way for surprising her, "You shouldn't throw those if you don't know how" she quipped. "I take it you and Chi-chan are finished then? Zuki-chan and Asa-chan will be there all day, and Tomi-chan and Setsu-chan are almost done."

"Mmmm. How about you and me Rias? You look like you're third wheeling here"

Rias responded by flinging a knife by my face, slicing my cheek. A thin trickle of blood rolled from the bone, dropping from my face, and before it touched the ground, I launched myself at her, my spear outstretched. She side stepped at the last second, leaving my spear to slice through her short blonde hair. Rias flipped back away and sent a barrage of kunai towards me, each piercing the air swiftly. I contorted my body in multiple attempts to dodge, only being caught by the last one. I hissed lightly as it sliced the flesh of my arm, I swapped my grip of my spear to the other hand, and pressed my free one onto the wound, hoping it would heal fast.

Rias proceeded to send a relentless flourish of kunai, leaving me no time to dodge, I hastily held my spear in front of me and twirled it, knocking all the kunai from the air. I ran at her, using my height advantage, and flipped over head, slamming my spear into her body as I did so, earning a grunt of pain and the sound of blood dropping to the ground. I then shoved the blunt end of my spear into her back, sending her sprawling to the ground. I mumbled a quick 'sorry' as she rose and prepared for another attack, she took a step forward, before a voice echoed throughout the training ground.

"We have decided what action to take, come to the battle chamber at once."

With a sigh and a shiver, I pulled my scarf tighter around my neck, hoping the soft material would give better protection from the biting chill in the air. From beside me I could hear the rustling of Rias rubbing her hands together to restore some feeling in the nerves.

We had been out here for several days, waiting for a sign of the demons. As soon as it was finished, we had put Riko's plan into motion.

"The demons will attack, there is no doubt" Riko said, staring intently at the map of all three worlds spread across the Battle chamber table, "Nowhere near the Holy Land yet, they don't have enough power. Somewhere in the human realm, but where I can't be sure"

"What do you propose we do?" Chizuru questioned her. Father and Riko had been in here quite a while, as chief of battle strategy, Riko was his right hand angel when it came to planning.

"We will need to send scouts to the Human world," Father said "but, I will not send lesser angels, I refuse to sacrifice my children. As you are the only ones with a hope of surviving an encounter with the demons, I will send you. I have made the call for your brothers to return from their duties to protect the Holy Land in your absence."

"You will be spilt up, each covering a section of the Human world." Riko continued, "Mizuki, Asami – you will take the Western plains. Chizuru and Kotomi, you will scout the Eastern forests. Kaya, you will take the Northern frosts. And that leaves Setsuki, to cover the Southern waters. Rias, you will be on the move, make your way between Setsuki and Kaya with the rise of the sun and moon. Asami, Mizuki, you are being trusted not to engage any hostiles whilst scouting."

I gave a nod to Riko and turned to Father, whilst Asami and Mizuki were 'shocked and hurt that anyone would think we would do that'.

"Move out"

It was close to Rias' time to move, the sun was about o set, leaving a mix of orange and red whirling in the sky. The human world was certainly different from the Holy Land, it had many different seasons and weathers- in comparison to the always sunny and warm Holy Land. The Northern Frosts were particularly cold, and boring. There weren't many humans up here, apparently, most preferred the slightly cool southern waters or balmy eastern forests. Even less humans lived in the Western plains, mainly comprised of hot, rocky lands.

"say Ka-chan" Rias spoke, teeth chattering slightly "You know how Father said that each demon was the embodiment of a deadly sin. And we are the representation of each virtue. Does that mean we have a counterpart in the demons, that is our exact opposite?"

"Yeah I guess, I mean, yours would be Greed, and mine Pride, if they were."

"Does that mean that only we can defeat our counterpart, ya know, considering all things. Cause, being charitable and all, I just can't wait to give them a beating"

I sent Rias a small smile and nodded. "Time for you to go"

She gave a sigh and stood, "See ya tomorrow, Ka-chan". Rias took a step back, shut her eyes and lifted her head. A bright light exploded from her back, blinding me slightly. Rubbing my eyes, I watched as the light subsided, leaving soft white wings in its wake. Rias spread her wings widely, before setting off into the sky. I kept my eyes locked on her form until she blurred into the dark horizon, on her way to Setsuki. Rias was the youngest of all of us, the baby of the family. Although a formidable enemy, she still needed someone to look out for her, but Father and Riko giving her the traveling duty of this mission, I suspect, had been a gesture to show she was trusted as her own angel.

I shifted my gaze to my surroundings, the frosts were covered in a thick layer of snow, even the few trees around had icicles dangling from their branches, in the distance, a whirl of grey and black edged closer to me, snow and ice speeding down to the ground. I took a step into the cave I was stationed inside for the night, I had a solid 2 hours before I had to move to my next scouting point. The cave was dimly lit by a small candle, casting weak shadows on the rough, rock wall. I leaned against the wall, trying to curve my back into a comfortable position, the storm was coming and I had to wait it out.

From the corner of my eye, a flash of black passed my vision. Immediately turning my gaze to the cave entrance, I scoured the outside. Nothing, must have been a tree branch or something caught in the wind. I returned my focus to the candle flickering in front of me, it gave off little warmth, but it was comforting none the less, the golden flecks dancing through the flame the exact colour that scattered the Palace floor.

Crash!

Suddenly, an unholy roar sounded around me, with a smooth arc, I drew my spear from my back and took fighting stance. A pile of snow outside rolled and moved, spotted in a thick soot… demons. The pile rolled into the cave, morphing into a tall demon. It stood on two legs, each limb lined with spikes and barbs, the beast's torso was charred black, with multiple arms, each ending in a sharp point. Its face was blackened, as if the skin had been melted, its features drooped down, revealing a set of red eyes.

As Father's primary angels, we had been subject to rigorous training to fight demons and protect the Holy Land, in those classes were demon identification. Most of which were wasted on me, I had no clear idea of what demon this was.

With a hiss, the beat pounced, arms extended, ready to kill. I rolled sharply to the side, jumping out and throwing my spear in the same motion. The crystal tip grazed the demon's body, leaving thick black blood to roll from the wound. I pulled back my spear, swinging it to free the clear tip from the black liquid.

"Sil-ly angel-l" It hissed, revealing a forked tongue. "l wil-l not give you a painl-less death"

I gave a curt laugh and swung again, this time, the demon dodged, flinging one of its long arms out, I moved slightly, in an attempt to dodge, but the barb caught my skin, pulling and becoming wedged in my arm, burning my flesh. I gave a grunt of pain, and pressed my hand into my wound, only to have the burn sear my hand. A hiss escaped my lips as I took my scarf from my neck and wrapped it around my arm. The demon laughed, before attacking again, not falling for the same ploy, I swung my spear in a high arc, the crystal prongs slicing the arm from the beast. The demon let out a scream of pain, retracting its arm. Using its distraction to my advantage, I swung again, sending a myriad of stabs and slashes at its body.

Although it tried to dodge, each attack found its mark, until my spear was covered in the thick demon blood. The demon was slashed unrecognisable, its body folding in on itself. With a final stab, I pierced the demon's head. The beast crumpled to the ground with a hiss, before a bubbling acid consumed the body.

Wiping the blood that had managed to get onto my arm, I walked to the pack I had for the mission and pulled out a red stone. Smashing it to the ground, a puff of smoke erupted into the cave, forming an oval mirror. Inside I could see the golden walls of the battle chamber, and Riko seated in her chair.

"Demons have come to the Human Realm" I said "One attacked me, nothing great, I think, it have lots of arms with spikes..."

"Asaku Demon, nothing major, but certainly not a lesser one either."

"Why are there intermediate level demons in the Human Realm, they have no protection a lesser couldn't handle. Can you check on the others, if there was a demon in the frosts, perhaps they have attacked other regions." The stones only connected with the Palace, I had no way of communicating with my sisters here in the Human Realm.

Riko leaned forward, her chin resting on her hands "Certainly, but there must be some reason they didn't send lesser demons. I will contact your Father, we must understand what exactly the Demons are planning."

"And how do you treat a sting from an Asaku demon?"

Riko rolled her eyes and sighed through a smile "Just put some snow on it for the burn, and keep it wrapped, I'll take out the barb when you return."

With a nod and a smile, I waved my hand through the smoke, dispelling the connection. I turned back to the cave, the space was soaked with demon blood, the ground where the Demon died had settled into a charred black patch, and the candle was dwindling. I sighed and picked up my pack, I had better move on to my next scouting position, before the storm came in full force.

Fire rose from the ground in a ring, an everlasting flame, that didn't leave ash as there was nothing alive to burn. Inside the ring, were seated 8 thrones, made from bone, charred black, but still alight. An echo of laughter filled the pit, over screams of agony and pain, as the flames burst with more energy, "The moons have aligned and allowed us passage into the Holy Land. We will burn it to death, and then build our own kingdom on the ashes!" A voice shouted, "Go forth, my sons, and destroy all those that oppose you."

Author's Note: lol why update Rulebook when i can wallow in writer's block and start a new story? Enjoy cuzzes.