Seize Our Day
The Daily Life Saga
The Fallen Arc
Chapter 7: Knowing the Unknown
Author's Note: Well, well, well. I am back from my vacation and it was relaxing and refreshing. Who knew diving from 40m upwards with only a cord attached to your legs could be so exhilarating. Wrote a lot of arc plans when I was being driven along the New Zealand countryside. So that's something to look forward to.
I am now back in university so writing might be a little late as it is now but I'm confident that my editor and I will make it work. The next few chapters are going to be exciting.
Tamamo wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead as she finished examining Murayama, whose torso was covered in thick bandages. Murayama laid asleep on Issei's bed, her chest rising and falling evenly, Issei let himself relax. Issei stumbled his way into the living room couch where he collapsed bonelessly on the cushion. Tamamo followed him in a regal manner and she smiled when she saw Issei's new…guest take to her uniform.
"Why is this outfit so small?" Raynare pulled at her french-maid uniform, the skirt was high not even reaching her thigh and her bust threatened to spill out of its small confines. A black choker, with the pendant she was gifted with, was around her neck.
Tamamo snorted at her complaint. "Like your other outfit was any better."
"It was a combat outfit!" Raynare defended, she was further outraged by Tamamo's laugh.
She turned her head to look at Issei, "What the hell happened to that asshole?" She noted that his uniform was battered, the cuffs had stains of blood and his red shirt did a good job in hiding the fact that there was a lot of blood on him.
"He yet again did something idiotic that almost got him killed." Tamamo answered, Issei groaned on the couch and she patted him on the head for trying.
Raynare frowned, her eyes crinkling in thought.
"Disappointed that he didn't die?" Raynare turned her head away, choosing not to dignify Tamamo's question that with a response.
Issei turned on his side, looking Raynare up and down before giving a thumb's up. "Nice."
Raynare spluttered and Issei wasn't sure if her reddening face was due to her embarrassment or her rage. "Shut up! I'm still pissing blood because of you!"
"To be fair, you did try to kill me." Issei rebutted drily. Issei brought his hand up to his face, a symbol blinking red on his hand and he dragged himself to his feet.
"Well, it was nice seeing you in that outfit, but if you're good for the next few days, I'll see about getting you changed into something more comfortable. So no killing or else." He said, staring pointedly at her choker.
She scowled at the reminder, if she tried to harm anyone in the household, the effect wouldn't be pretty.
Issei left his not-so-happy maid at his apartment and walked alongside Tamamo. The two were silent as they made their way to the rooftop. Issei could practically feel Tamamo's eyes on him. He wasn't looking forward to that conversation.
When Issei opened the door to the rooftop, he saw two familiar faces. Neither of them were smiling.
"Evening, Achilles, Li-Hua." He greeted, sitting at his seat. They gave rigid nods back.
"How was the talk with Rias?" Tamamo fired off the first question to him.
Issei didn't blink and gave an indifferent shrug. "It was informative. Did you think I'd have any reason to be upset?"
"No." Tamamo said, her ears twitched and she laid a hand on his shoulder. "You are angry."
Issei averted his eyes away from them. "I can't go around picking fights willy-nilly."
"What about Saito?" Achilles snorted with his arms crossed.
"He doesn't have a sibling who can disintegrate you with a thought." Issei scratched the back of his head. "Still, some things you gotta let go. Know when to pick your fights and all that.
Even when they want you to die for their own purposes." Issei bit out with gritted teeth. He looked at all of them to see that Achilles and Li-Hua were still stone-faced. "Fine, I'm not happy that Rias tried to use my death for her personal gain. Despite what she was trying to do, I can sympathise with her on some level."
"You've forgotten the issue, just like that." Achilles said, snapping his fingers.
Issei stared between his fingers and he growled. "No, I haven't forgiven it and I'm certainly not going to forget it anytime soon."
Li-Hua was looking at him expectantly, hoping to broach a particular topic, namely of the person that was sleeping in Issei's bed.
"You've got that look on your face." Issei said, without turning his head.
"What look?" Li-Hua said, she was clenching and unclenching her fists as her lone eye bored into Issei's.
"The 'I want to talk about the shit you did and I'm going to give you hell for it' look." He said, pointing to her blank stare. She continued her stoic expression when he retracted his finger.
Issei conceded and sighed. "I should have been smarter and eliminated the fallen."
"You should have been smarter and let us do it." Li-Hua stressed the words. "How much of your life did you give up saving Murayama?"
Issei looked away, mumbling under his breath.
"How much?" Li-Hua asked with a glare.
"A year." He said a little louder, still mumbling.
"I couldn't hear you over the sound of your pussy-footing."
Issei growled and shouted. "A year, okay! I gave up a year."
Li-Hua closed her eyes, exhaling through her nose before she took a seat on the couch. She wouldn't say anything. She didn't have to.
Achilles would.
"What?!" Achilles marched up to Issei, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "Boss, I know you can be reckless sometimes but this is beyond that. This is stupid. You could have called any one of us and we could have beat the feathered bastard for you."
"Well, what if I didn't want that? What if I wanted to take care of the problem myself? What if I don't want to be weak anymore?!" Issei's voice rose with each question until he was shouting it in Achilles' face. He gritted his teeth as he grabbed Achilles' own shirt. The blood was pounding in his ears now and all he could see was red.
Achilles stared him down with a hardened resolve. "Issei-"
"Boys." Tamamo's slender hand was on Issei's shoulder and he turned with a snarl, his brown eyes exuded power. Until he saw Tamamo's face. Tamamo's eyes, there wasn't fire in them but warmth. Where he expected anger, there was kindness. Issei let Achilles go and collapsed back onto the seat.
Tamamo didn't raise her voice and she emitted an aura of calmness over them. "What's done is done, we have to be thankful that Murayama is alive right now."
"…sorry." Issei muttered. Was he sorry for the fact that he let his emotions get to him? Maybe. Was he sorry for the fact that even though he had the power, he still couldn't stop someone from getting hurt? Definitely. But what he was most sorry about was that he had let his team down. The people who would go to hell and back for him and even storm heaven if their leader kicked the bucket early. Cause that's who they were. His crew. The ones he could rely on and yet didn't.
Achilles crossed his arms and stood in front of him. "Issei, we're here to pick up the slack but you're strong too. You're the boss. Everyone recognises it. Hell, some of the girls at the academy are catching on."
"What?"
"Aika, Murayama, that Rias chick and even Li-Hua knows something's going on between you and Sona." Achilles said with conviction. "So don't say that you're weak. That ain't the boss talking. I refuse to recognise that person. The real boss would just take any situation head on with a fearless smile."
Issei was quiet at his friend's declaration. He didn't deserve them. Any of them. Goddamn, there were fucking tears in his eyes. "That's not me anymore."
"No, it's not. But we'll be waiting for when he comes back. The real Issei." Li-Hua said, getting off the couch, she turned her head to Issei, a frown on her face. "Because it's pathetic seeing you like this."
Achilles followed, muttering. "We really need you boss."
Achilles and Li-Hua left Issei and Tamamo on the rooftop. Tamamo stood by next to Issei who stared morosely at the vacant seats. "Are you disappointed as well?"
Issei couldn't look in her direction without feeling the self-loathing for himself. Tamamo's slender fingers slid under Issei's chin and gently tilted his head up. The sight of an exhausted boy crushed her heart. She couldn't fathom the pain that he felt. The decision that he had to make that day. But she knew that he loved her very much. He would give it up for her. "I know why you gave up being a hero and I also know deep down that you can't fight that instinct of being one."
Issei didn't say anything, letting the silence fill the gap between them. She embraced his head, stroking his hair and he whispered. "I can't leave her. I'm all she's got. I'm her big brother."
"I know." Tamamo whispered back sadly, she felt Issei's hot tears on her. She had to be strong for them. She had to because she knew that he would give up being a hero for Olivia's sake. "And that's okay.
Murayama blearily opened her eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar room. She yawned into her mouth and was taken aback at the miffed woman who had an obviously fake smile on her face, the french maid uniform was a little jarring.
"How are you, today, Mistress?" Raynare said with gritted teeth as if the words themselves were a bitter pill to swallow.
Murayama didn't know what to really do or say in this situation but the more time passed, the more angrier the woman appeared to get at her lack of response. "…I'm fine. Thanks?"
"Good, the…" Raynare paused and she shouted outside the door. "DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?"
"YES." came the echoic response.
"The…hrgh…the mahhh…HRGH…sorry I threw up in my mouth a little there." Raynare said, coughing into her hand. "The master will see you now."
Tamamo opened the door with a flourish, an all-too-cheeky grin on her face and Issei peeked at them through his fingers with an exasperated sigh.
"Thank you, Ray-chan. You can go now." Tamamo said, she directed her sweet smile on her face as the maid fumed at her nickname.
'Ray-chan' growled and started cursing underneath her breath about dumb foxes. Tamamo laughed, the insult not fazing her in the least and she smacked the unruly servant's bottom. Raynare yelped and her glare doubled.
"No foul language in this household." Tamamo said with an admonishing wave with a mortified Raynare quickly vacating the room. Issei was trying his hardest not to laugh at this point. He almost felt sorry and wanted to intervene but he wasn't going to throw himself under the bus any time soon.
"Issei, I'm confused, what happened? Why is Tamamo-sensei here? And…" Murayama asked before she looked down at herself, the thick bandages covering her torso and realised that she was essentially naked. "KYAH! Where are my clothes?"
"It's alright, calm down." He said, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. She flinched at the near contact. He frowned before retracting his hand. "Do you remember anything from last night?"
"I remembered that we went out for dinner, you drove me and there was this man. He had black wings and you both fought." She said. "And…I died."
"No, you were dying but I saved you."
"How am I alive? Who was that guy?"
"Magic. I used magic to save you but it came at a cost as all spells do. The man that you saw was a Fallen Angel. He's part of a race in the Judeo-Christian religion. They're one of the many races that inhabit this world. We have the normal world and the Supernatural world, where gods, monsters and other supernatural species live."
"T-that sounds crazy. It's unbeliva-" Tamamo stepped forward, allowing her fox features to be seen in their full glory, the ears twitching on her head and the nine-tails behind her swaying back and forth. "-ble."
"Still unbelievable?" Issei said rhetorically.
Murayama's response was her gaping mouth as she stared at her 'foxy' school nurse. "How is this possible?"
"The world is a lot crazier than you think, you just gotta go with the flow and move on." Issei said. Murayama patted the area where she was stabbed. She could still feel the lingering pain. The hole that the man had carved through her torso. Yet, she was here and out there was a more dangerous world than she could have ever imagined. She didn't know whether to be awe or in terror.
Issei inched forward, quietly asking. "Do you want to know more? If you don't then we can forget this ever happened. But if you want to, then I will tell you and I will make you stronger so that you won't fall again."
"I-I…" Murayama stared at her hands. She balled them into her fists and Issei could see the resolve in her eyes. "I do."
Murayama couldn't believe the words coming from Issei's mouth when he explained everything about the fight from last night. Fallen Angels? Devils? None of it made sense, but the proof was there when the school nurse had revealed herself to be the freakin' Tamamo no Mae. When Aika had come over for breakfast with Issei and nonchalantly revealed that she was actually a half-vampire/half-succubus, she was left with one thought.
'That explains so much.'
So here she was, walking with Issei and Aika, a thousand-yard stare on her face that she only snapped out of once they walked past the school gate.
"Oi we're here. Look, just… meet me after school and I'll… I'll work something out so you don't have to worry about anyone else killing you." Issei rubbed the back of his head and she nodded dumbly, taking a step forward before being dragged away by an exuberant Katase who was whispering at a million miles per hour and asking questions on why she was walking with Issei.
Issei watched as Murayama got dragged to her group of friends who were gesturing wildly in his direction, and he scratched his head, puzzled at their behaviour. He wasn't that bad, was he?
He didn't have time to dwell on this for long before he was blindsided by Matsuda and Motohama, who began drag him away.
They turned to Aika, "Excuse us for a moment, we just need to have a quick chat with a friend." They quickly ran off before she could even utter a single word of protest.
"How the hell did you get the freaking Captain of the Kendo Club to walk with you?" Matsuda cried indignantly, surrounding him by the wall.
"What did you do? Did you bribe her? Hypnotise her? Blackmail her?" Motohama joined in on the interrogation but Issei's glare silenced whatever else they were going to say.
"What the hell's gotten into the both of you? I met her on the way to school and we got to talking, what's the big deal?" They both spluttered in vexation at Issei's words..
"Big deal? Dude, do you know how much this could mean for us?! We'd get access to peep at girls whenever we want, if you're laying the foundations for a good...relationship." Matsuda swept his arm around Issei's neck.
Issei regarded them with a flat look. "What do you mean relationship?"
Motohama patted Issei on the shoulder. "Don't think we didn't miss the glazed over look in her eyes."
He had to groan at that misunderstanding and the urge to slap them was taking remarkable restraint on his part. "Look, I'm not helping you spy on girls just so you can look at some boobs."
"But they are glorious breasts, big, round and perky with such amazing nipples that I want to stuff my face in them." Motohama yelled proudly, a couple of girls walked by looking at them with loathing.
"Ew, it's those guys. Talking about it so openly."
"Shameful!"
"So awful."
"Erm, I mean can you at least teach us how to get a girlfriend?" Matsuda coughed into his hand.
Issei sighed at the hopelessness of these two. "Just tone it down with the perversions-"
"Appreciation." Matsuda interjected before being stopped by the blank stare from Issei. "Continue."
"And treat girls with the respect that they deserve. If you actually get to point when you go on an actual date, be nice, be yourself but not 'yourself'. Do you get what I mean?"
They nodded, accepting the answer. "Thank you so much, Issei!"
"Surely, your words of wisdom will help us in our dream to attain a harem!" Issei tried his best to sink into the ground because he did not want to deal with all the glares from the fairer sex right now. He karate-chopped both of their heads when they continued with their overzealous worshipping.
"What did I say before about shouting your dreams?" Issei growled, his displeasure at having his reputation cemented by these idiots was making him regret his decision to help them.
"Not to." They murmured before giggling madly to themselves. Matsuda pulled out a DVD with the case showing various girls in erotic positions and various states of undress. "Ah, well I just got the newly released Tropical Kiss, and I'm so excited to watch it. Say Issei, do you want to join us?"
"No, no you guys can jerk each other off, I've got some business to take care of after school." He walked back to Aika who regarded him with a raised eyebrow.
"What did they want to talk about?" Aika asked and Issei stopped her before the topic could gain any traction lest he suffer under more innuendos.
"Let's not go there." He looked up and spotted Rias on the second floor peering down at him. He slipped back into his disinterested mask.
"So where are we going?" Issei asked with a yawn, as Aika and Murayama trailed behind him. Issei had been invited personally by Rias to deal with a stray devil, partly to make amends for manipulating him the way that she did, and partly to show how the Evil Pieces worked. She had brought her peerage consisting of Akeno, Kiba and Koneko. Murayama was trying and failing to hold back from squealing at seeing the Prince so close to her. Rias had asked why he wanted to bring Murayama, and he responded that the threat of the rogue Fallen had revealed the Supernatural world to her, to which she mentally kicked herself for failing in her duty to protect her territory.
"We're going to be dealing with someone who's been naughty." Akeno answered and Issei swore that there was something else in her voice when she said that.
The group were standing before a dilapidated building, one you would suspect would make a great filming location for a cheesy horror movie or a hideout for kids to play pretend, but this place oozed a sense of dread that intimidated many who walked by.
However to Rias, it was sign that they were in the right place. She turned to the confused girls to explain why they were there, "We received an order from the Archduke that the stray devil Viser was in this area, and as I'm the devil charged with this territory, it is my job to track down and eliminate it."
Noticing Issei's disinterested expression, she further explained, "This will give me the opportunity to show you the traits that my servants have."
Issei stroked his chin. "Hmm, this will be an educational experience for them then."
"Quite." Seeing the girls' confusion, Rias continued. "To explain why my servants have certain traits that go along with their powers, I must explain the history of my kind."
"There was a conflict, a war between three factions, the devils, the fallen and the angels. All three were led by the Four Satans, The Governor General and God respectively. They fought for eons and each of them were evenly matched with one another. However, they all ended up losing most of their troops and the war ended centuries ago in a stalemate."
Akeno continued after her red-haired president. "Now, the devils were no exceptions to this and most of their troops fell in battle. Some of the 72 pillars have been wiped to extinction due to this war which is why we can no longer form any new armies and have turned to an alternate method." She held a serene smile. "Even though a ceasefire has been issued, there has been tension between the three factions and a system was devised to replenish our numbers."
Rias held her hand up and a bishop chess piece, floated above her palm. "This is the Evil Piece system. High-ranking devils are gifted with their evil pieces and it allows us to reincarnate any being to become a devil. It was modeled after the human game of 'chess' and we have come to use those traits for our devil servants. The master of the peerage is given the rank of 'King', which is me. Now, as you know there are different pieces such as the Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight and Pawn each with their unique traits. Although, we can't make an army, a small group of devils with a massive boost in power compensates for that number. This system was created in the past and has become popular amongst devils with their peerages as a way of settling conflict and a form of entertainment."
"Popular how?" Aika asked, more than intrigued that a whole other race of beings invented something like that. While Aika did have a basic knowledge of the Supernatural world, she was fascinated to learn more about other races and their history. Her mother wasn't particularly forthcoming on her own heritage.
"Well, everyone started to compete against each other. Some would compare the strength of their pieces. 'My Bishop is stronger!' or 'My Pawn can take down your knight!' High-class devils would start to play a game like chess using our servants which we called the 'Rating Game'. As its popularity has continued to grow, it has become a competitive sport with tournaments."
Aika and Murayama were amazed at her explanation but Issei's face held a dark expression. The more Issei listened to Rias' explanation of the Evil Pieces, the more that he wanted to start destroying things. Pieces, servants, objects.
'They're people too.' Issei thought cynically.
Rias strode forward past the threshold with the group and a heavy atmosphere flooded the room. Murayama almost dropped down to her knees at the killing intent being directed to her when it stopped. Kiba stood in front of her, giving her his calm, refreshing smile that enchanted many girls and she was no exception.
A voice emanated from the crevices of the darkened room. "Now what could that smell be? It is absolutely disgusting. Yet I can also smell something delicious? Is it sweet or bitter?"
Emerging from the shadows was a woman. She was a beauty from her waist up, naked with her bare breasts revealed to the world. Her beauty ended when they saw her bottom half, a monstrous centaur with claws and teeth.
"It's here." Koneko said.
"Thank you, Koneko." Issei said dryly as she pointed out the giant monster that was literally standing in the middle of the room.
"Stray devil, Viser. You have abandoned your master, and have let your powers run rampant. You will face judgement for your sins. In the name of the Gremory, I will destroy you."
The woman smirked at her with a half-lidded gaze. "What an impudent little brat you are. Shall I dye all of you in bright red, like that hair of yours?"
She began fondling her breasts, laughing manically as Murayama stood there in disgust. Meanwhile, Aika shifted over to Issei and covered his eyes with her hand.
"Are you sure... this is a stray devil and not a weird exhibitionist?" Issei commented and slapped Aika's hand away, the magical circles that appeared around the stray devil's nipples shot a yellow beam towards them. Everyone dodged from the attack except for Issei who just leaned down.
"Hey, 500 yen." He surveyed the wall behind him which was slowly trickling down with acid. "Do succubi have ac-"
"No." Aika said definitively and he pouted before shuffling over to where Rias was, backflipping from another glob.
"Watch closely. Kiba-kun." Kiba's hand hovered over his sword before disappearing before them.
"Wow, he's fast." Murayama gushed in awe.
"Yuuto's position is that of a knight, meaning that his speciality is speed." He was under the monster and with two swipes, the arms fell off with a heavy thunk. Viser screeched in agony as blood sprayed from her stumps. Koneko stepped forward. Viser transformed once more, her beautiful appearance shifted, her teeth growing longer and the slit in the middle of her legs grew massive jaws that enveloped Koneko in one bite.
"That is one monster vagina." Issei's comment earned him a slap from both Aika and Murayama.
The jaws were slowly being pried open by the diminutive girl although her uniform was in tatters exposing her bra and panties.
"Koneko is my rook, her speciality is strength." The little girl's fist slammed into Viser's torso, and she flew back with tremendous force, shattering a pillar.
"Akeno." Rias called out.
The vice-president stalked forward towards the grounded devil, with a tranquil smile. "Ara ara, whatever should I do with you, I wonder?"
Something in Akeno's tone sent warning bells ringing in Issei's head as he narrowed his eyes at her deceptively sweet voice. Issei spotted a clawed arm move from the rubble. He watched as it flew towards Rias, its sharp nails ready to tear out her delicate throat. He swiped it from the air and used it to scratch at an itch on his back.
"That was poor spatial awareness, you should work on that." Rias stared in bewilderment before he casually tossed the hand behind him, bursting into a ball of fire. "Be aware at all times."
"Those who try to lay a hand on my president...will be punished!" Lightning arced between Akeno's fingertips.
"Akeno is my queen, she has the traits of all my pieces, but her speciality is magic."
"Oh my you still look alive. I'll have to fix that, won't I?" A beam of lightning struck Viser, electrocuting the stray devil who screamed in agony.
"Also she's the ultimate sadist." The fact that she said this with a smile as Akeno continued to light up the enemy like a christmas tree made Murayama gulp at seeing one of her onee-sama's darker side. Aika looked on curiously, a hand on her chin. "Well, I never thought I would find a kindred spirit."
Issei's head whipped towards her, very much concerned about the possibility of two Aikas in the world and asked, "What was that?"
"Nothing." Aika said in a sing-song voice.
Rias held out her hand in front of Akeno. "That will do, Akeno."
Akeno seemed sullen that she couldn't get to continue to 'play' with her new toy and cupped her cheek mournfully. The sadistic smile was still there, but she acquiesced to Rias' order.
Rias walked towards the charred and blackened body of Viser who moaned pitifully.
"Any last words, Viser?"
"Kill me." She said simply, wanting the pain to end.
"Very well." A ball of red energy coalesced in her hand, hovering over her palm, before it flew forward, enveloping Viser.
Everyone watched as the woman disintegrated before their very eyes, the only evidence that she had been alive at some point were the splatters of blood on the floor.
"That concludes the demonstration of our roles."
Rias's actions on how she so casually wiped the monster from existence shocked Murayama to the core. She had some preconceived notions that devils would take your soul in a contract, but here she was finding out that they protected the town from supernatural beings. Even beings from their own race.
Issei swept his eyes over to Rias and her peerage who looked at him with expectant gazes and he struggled to find the words to conclude his thoughts. "It was…interesting."
Rias wasn't convinced that he entirely telling the truth but let him be. Pursuing that line of questioning would be exhausting and she didn't need that right this minute. So she nodded, accepting his answer.
"Well, it's been fun but tonight's a school night. I guess we'll bid you adieu." He waved, casually strolling out of the building much to Rias' and her peerage's bewilderment at his behavior.
"I don't think I've seen that reaction before." Rias said dumbly, perplexed at Issei's casual walking out.
Whistling as Issei hopped down the stairs to the basement of the apartment complex, he found Raynare, Aika and Murayama waiting for him. Raynare looked at the dusty basement in disgust before she sniffed irritably. Aika seemed to have found her amusement by mercilessly teasing Murayama, evident by her reddening face.
"Aika, stop teasing Murayama, I'm pretty sure all the blood rushing to her head isn't healthy for her." Aika still held the cheeky grin and directed her perverted leer towards Issei. "No, Aika. Bad."
"Aww, you're always ruining my fun."
"I'm doing my job to protect Earth from the evil forces of Aika." She stuck her tongue out in a childish rebuttal. Issei rolled his eyes before pulling out a silver key from his pocket. He jabbed it into the oak door in the center of the wall, the key nestled in the lock and Issei turned.
Opening the door, they were greeted to the sight of a desolate, brown, craggy land that was dotted with dead trees. Raynare quickly stripped off her uniform and transformed into her true form a.k.a the BDSM clothing, while Aika had taken to wearing a black sports bra and some shorts. Murayama was hesitant in changing but Issei pointedly turned away while he handed her the training clothes. She muttered a quick thanks.
It was amazing that Issei's composure didn't break when Aika tried to distract him with her warm-up stretches. He knew that puberty had been hitting Aika quite nicely, by her still developing bust and her shapely rear. She was alluring, that was for sure, but he didn't let her know that. Issei and Li-Hua had been playing this game of cat and mouse for the last year, and he didn't want to lose at this point.
"Alright, I'm going to be training you three to be the very best at kicking ass," He clapped his hands together, getting their attention. "By the end of this month, you will be stronger, faster...deadlier. But first things first, what the hell are you wearing, Raynare?"
"It's my combat outfit." She said, only to see him raise an eyebrow in response..
"Yeah, if the combat zone was the dungeon and the enemy was strapped with his arms and legs to the bed. Then I could definitely see you defeating someone in that."
"Hey! This outfit works, it distracts the guys while I shove my spear into their chest."
"Doesn't really do much if your opponent is better than you and could capture you, by then you already dressed yourself for the part of what he's going to do to you." Raynare scowled fiercely at his verbal assault but saw something flash across his eyes. Something that she saw herself when she looked in the mirror and dropped the matter. A runic circle flared to life before a pair of shorts and a shirt fell into Issei's hand. He tossed them to Raynare who grumbled changing into the new outfit.
"One more thing," Issei tossed all of them a blank shogi tile.
Aika held the piece between her fingers, "What is this?"
"If I'm going to train you all, then you need to have that at all times. It's to help gauge your power." They watched the tile shatter into particles before it entered their bodies. A warmth started to spread throughout them and they felt invigorated by the rush of energy.
"Anyway, I will be having my lovely assistants help me today." Tamamo appeared wearing her traditional outfit and was smiling rather eerily at Raynare.
Achilles shot up from behind a boulder and landed in front of them in a plume of smoke and shouted, "I AM HERE!"
"We know." Everyone said flatly.
"What kind of training are we going to be doing?" Raynare said uneasily as a fireball appeared in front of Tamamo.
"Survival training." Issei said simply before he sat up on a boulder.
Achilles summoned a javelin in his hand. A maniacal grin spread over his face as he swept his gaze over to the slightly frightened girls, before he zeroed in on Murayama. "Start running."
A bead of sweat fell down Aika's head, and she blanched when she realised Murayama was a good hundred metres in the opposite direction of Achilles.
Raynare took to the air hoping that it would give her an advantage before she was pelted by rocks and she turned her annoyed gaze at Issei.
"Stay on the earth, learn how to dodge on steady ground first." Raynare clicked her teeth in irritation, landing on the ground before being struck by a fireball.
"I didn't say stop dodging." She cursed inwardly, when she had to twist her body from a hail of fireballs from Tamamo, who continued to chase after her with a frightening smile. "PO! PO! PO!"
"Why are you saying that?!" Raynare cried out and she whipped her head around to see something that petrified her. Tamamo's face was distorted, her face lengthened and stretched and her mouth looked like a black inky void. "Po."
"KYAH!" Raynare sagged to the ground, foam coming out of her mouth as the air in front of Tamamo's face shifted before her features were back to normal.
Murayama thought that her training would be able to help her dodge more easily. She had a good distance between her and Achilles. There was no way that he coul-
SHPPT!
The tip of his javelin was embedded into the ground in front of her and her legs gave out at her near-death. She turned back to see him waving at her. If he had aimed a little lower then her head would have been…
"What are you waiting for? Run, Forrest, Run!" Achilles yelled. Murayama tearfully thought that maybe it wasn't too late to go back. She tried to climb to her feet but to her horror found the red head was standing right in front of her.
"Man, I thought you'd be faster." Achilles dismissed the spear in the ground and summoned a Xiphos to his hand. He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Maybe I'm not doing this right."
He cast a sign with his fingers and a hockey mask appeared in his hand. "Ah, that's much better."
Murayama screamed in terror as she ran away from Achilles who was madly laughing and swinging his sword at her. The small taps to her shoulders and elbows served to inspire Murayama to run faster.
Aika stared.
Issei stared back.
"So am I exempt from this survival training?" Aika asked, trying not to let her voice crack at hearing the other girls' luck. Issei raised a hand in the air before giving the thumbs up and he looked at something in the distance. "Oi, what does that mean?"
Issei signed with his hands again and stopped before directing his gaze back to her. Aika was shivering on the spot when she saw the blank stare and her voice trembled. "I-Issei, you're freaking me out."
"This is payback for teaching Olivia a bad word before." He stated simply.
"What bad word? You mean manwh-"
BA-CRACK!
A bullet whizzed past Aika and she raised her fingers to her cheek to realise blood was leaking out. Issei continued on, ignoring the fact that Aika was now looking frantically at where the sharpshooter was.
"Would you like to play a game of hide and seek?" Issei asked.
Aika frantically shook her head while Issei interpreted it differently by vigorously nodding along. He raised two thumbs up.
Another shot rang out and Aika decided that hiding was priority number one. She would get Issei back later.
"Help!" She screamed.
Out on top of a plateau in the distance was Li-Hua, her belly to the ground and her lone eye through the scope of her sniper rifle. Despite Aika's impressive speed and her ability to hide in shadows, that still wasn't good enough. She sighed in bliss. "I do love a moving target."
Issei looked down at the girls who were panting on the floor. He blew on a steaming cup of ramen and let out a breath, feeling that the last few hours of training was cathartic in some way. Raynare alternated between screaming in terror or yelling abuse at him. Aika was desperate to find a good hiding place and kept muttering 'she knows, she knows'. Murayama had questioned her sanity in voluntarily joining in this horrorfest.
"Y-you s-sadistic ass." Raynare groaned, rubbing at the bruises as she tried to sit herself up to breathe easier. She turned to meet her tormentor who slurped some noodles into his mouth before he directed his chopsticks at her.
"Sorry, couldn't hear that, did you say you want to continue training?" She paled instantly and shook her head.
"I think they did very well for their first day of training." Tamamo said airily bringing a tray of tea over to him. Issei pondered, he would have a lot of work to do if he were to train them to meet his standards, but he was impressed with their potential.
Raynare, while she was a low-level angel with only a single pair of wings, was learning quickly and adapted to her situation far better than he had expected. Although the bruises attested to her efforts and he was pleased that she was trying to improve herself.
"She was every myth and urban legend." Raynare complained to Aika.
Aika, thanks to her vampire and succubus heritage, had shown remarkable speed being able to nimbly dodge, duck and weave out of the gunfire. Li-Hua took this as a personal challenge and started wondering how close she could get to hitting Aika without harming her. Aika developed a healthy amount of fear for Li-Hua that day.
Murayama was beginning to show the aptitude of a great swordsman, thinking fast on her feet, her agility certainly was nothing to scoff at. He had to give credit to the Captain of the Kendo Club, she took her training very seriously and Issei was glad to see the determination in her eyes.
"At least you didn't have a psychotic killer chasing after you." Murayama panted.
Sometime during the training session, all of them had ended up running together and a strange camaraderie had formed between the three for their mutual loathing of their tormentors.
"Alright, that was a good warm-up now we can start training."
All of their eyes bugged out. Was he serious? They could barely keep up before! Raynare looked back at Issei and noticed as he began to smirk before devolving into full blown, uproarious laughter. They all glowered darkly at him, but that just further fueled his howls of laughter, as he rolled on the ground clutching his stomach.
"You prick!" Raynare said.
"Alright, Achilles, Li-Hua, you guys can spar now." Achilles whooped, he twisted his hands into a sign and his uniform was replaced by armour. The hockey mask was gone and he had a serious expression as he turned to regard Li-Hua. Everyone saw how his bronze armour gleamed covering his chest, arms and legs. On his back, was a bronze shield and Murayama recognised the javelin that he used was there as well. Around his waist was a leather loincloth, his trusty Xiphos attached by his hip and underneath he wore a pair of survivor trousers. Achilles cracked his neck in anticipation.
"You're still wearing that skirt?" Li-Hua smirked at his indignant expression.
Achilles rebuffed her comment. "I'm wearing pants too you know!"
"Doesn't stop the fact that you're still wearing a skirt." Li-Hua snapped her fingers and her uniform changed to a full bodysuit that conformed to every curve of her body, the zipper was at the top of her neck and she fixed up her vest which carried her ammunition and other military paraphernalia. On her back was something that couldn't be described as a sniper rifle as it was more akin to a cannon by its size. A handgun was holstered to her side. She looked ready to go to war.
"Showoff." Achilles jeered.
"Lick my clit." Li-Hua sniped back.
"Okay, save the aggression for the fight. Now, let's shake hands and get this spar started." Issei called out. He led the audience to the side where he had been sitting, while Tamamo began to set up a barrier around the two fighters.
Achilles and Li-Hua marched up to each other, both of them shaking the other's hand. Everyone could see that them shaking hands was still a contest as it looked like they were trying to force each other to submit.
"Good luck, you're gonna need all of it." Achilles said, a fake smile on his face.
"Hmph, too bad for you I've got skill on my side too." Li-Hua smirked and the two let go, going in opposite directions.
"Is this a demonstration or are we going all-out?" Li-Hua said, her eyes not leaving Achilles as they glared at each other.
"Hmm, a demonstration. Let's go with hand-to-hand for now." Issei said. With of a flick of the combatants' wrists, they dismissed their weapons in flash of light. "Begin!"
Achilles pounced forward with an ecstatic grin and his forearm crashed against Li-Hua. Her arms were crossed to guard herself as she dug her foot into the ground to stop from skidding back. She hated fighting hand to hand with him. Even now her arms stung from the hit and from the ever-widening smile on Achilles' face, he knew that it had hurt her.
Achilles followed up with an uppercut and Li-Hua backed up before her leg slammed into his arm.
"You've gotten slower." He said, before grabbing her outstretched leg. Li-Hua nimbly spun with her other foot and kicked Achilles in the head, the blow rattling him enough that he released his grip on her leg.
Quickly, before he could gain his breath, Li-Hua swiftly followed through with a flying kick. Achilles sensed the incoming attack, sidestepped the attack but she was already on him. She attacked at his weak spots, going for the throat, eyes, and testicles. While Achilles may have had the power and speed in his moves, Li-Hua employed techniques and used every dirty trick in the book. She was a mercenary not a samurai. Achilles saw his moment and his hand shot forward grabbing Li-Hua by the throat. She instinctively clawed at his hand before he lifted her high in the air and her back slammed against the ground.
The audience from the side winced for the woman. They could practically feel their backs ache from that move.
Taking advantage of the opening, he dragged her across the field, carving a trench into the ground and hurled Li-Hua against a boulder. She felt her lungs burn from all the air leaving her and Achilles knee crashed into her solar-plexus, leaving her winded again as she curled to the ground.
"Hey, hey, don't tell me that's all you got le-" He didn't get to finish before Li-Hua's forehead crashed against his nose with the sound of broken cartilage motivating her to keep making him hurt. She grabbed Achilles by the back his neck and with a roar tossed him across the field. He recovered in mid-air and gracefully landed on his feet. Blood leaked down his face and he reached up to lick it. "That's more like it."
Li-Hua couldn't help the smile that split her lips.
Issei cupped his hands together and stood from his seat. "Alright, let's bring out the weapons."
Achilles raised his hands and his xiphos and shield fell into his grasp, his foot came forward and he held his xiphos behind his shield.
Li-Hua summoned her own weapons, a tomahawk and a serrated knife, and she lowered her stance closer to the ground. She held the tomahawk in her right hand and the serrated knife in a reverse grip with her left.
The audience was amazed at the weapons they were bringing out. For the girls, they only knew the two Captains of the school had an intense rivalry with each other, but to see them battle it out and using skills that far exceeded their own. It was enlightening to say the least.
Achilles and Li-Hua clashed in a deadly dance. A whirlwind of blades, steel against bronze and the sheer stubbornness between mercenary and warrior was heating up. Each blow they struck would have killed an ordinary man, each parry was meant to break the blade that landed the hit and you would think those two were on even ground.
But Li-Hua was not a close combat fighter.
Sure, she held her ground admirably against someone like Achilles but that's not where her speciality lied. Even now, Achilles had been controlling the fight up with him being on the offensive. Li-Hua was slowly giving ground but she had patience.
A plan formed in her mind and she disengaged from Achilles. A rush of air left Achilles' nose and he got back into his combat stance, legs spread wide and his xiphos and shield ready to attack and defend. Li-Hua was puffing mildly, but she managed to get her own breathing under control. She darted forward and jumped into the air with a raised leg.
Achilles narrowed his eyes at the move. Why would she perform something that left her wide open? He raised his xiphos to meet her when she threw her knife at him. He hastily aborted the attack and raised his shield. But that was exactly what Li-Hua needed.
Achilles realised his mistake when he felt her full weight on his shield. He sensed the surge of magic in her legs.
"Hey, she's using magic!" Achilles yelled over to Issei, who stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Yeah, you can use magic now, why not?"
"Fuck you!" "Thank you."
Li-Hua kicked off from Achilles' shield and propelled herself far from him, tossing a smoke bomb his way. The sniper rifle appeared in her hand, the barrel longer than she was tall. A devious smile spread across her face while Achilles was still looking in the other direction from where she was.
"Damn it, where the hell did she go?" Achilles scratched his head, the smoke lingering and distorting his vision.
Aika turned to Issei as they saw Li-Hua set up her rifle on top of a plateau. "What kind of gun is that?"
"She likes to call it 'The Doomsday Rifle'."
"Why?"
BANG!
Achilles' head snapped forward from the impact of the bullet and he sank to the ground. Everyone watched with bated breath to see if he would get up. Achilles lifted an arm up, a solitary finger raised, and cracked his neck.
"Good thing that I'm so hard-headed." Achilles grunted to himself. A ring of magic shattered and he spat on the ground. He stood up with the help of his summoned javelin. "So glad I know some protection magic.
The bullets slammed against his shield, the force pushing him back, and he dug his spear into the ground to stop from moving any further.
There were a few seconds of dead silence before Achilles quickly chanted to himself. He holstered his shield, and his hand let go of his javelin.
"Hermes' Rush! Atlas' Burden!"
Li-Hua looked down at her scope to see Achilles stand, with his arms wide open, as if to say 'take your best shot'. She fired once and he tilted his head to the side. The bullet missing him by a couple of inches, but the smirk that he wore said that he saw it coming a mile away.
"Now, who's showing off?" Li-Hua said, under her breath. A green film of energy surrounded her before multiple copies of her shot out and ran to their own vantage points. She continued to fire at him and he weaved through each bullet.
"I can feel it coming in the air tonight." A bullet whizzed by from a different direction and his eyes spotted a clone of Li-Hua firing at him.
"Is he singing?" Murayama asked.
"Helps him concentrate apparently." Tamamo said with a shrug.
Ten other clones materialised forming a circle and fired, their hands pulling back the bolt as fast as they fired. "Oh lord."
Li-Hua's clones disappeared and the green energy around her intensified. Three magic circles appeared in front of the 'cannon' that Li-Hua wielded and two legs shot off from the underside of her rifle as it embedded itself into the ground. Her finger hovered over the trigger.
"Bye Bye."
An explosion resounded throughout the grounds and everyone looked on in worry to see if Achilles had survived, but Issei smirked.
The cloud settled and Achilles was still standing, though his armour was a little worn and his shield sported a huge dent.
Achilles looked down at his damaged shield and tossed it to the side before flipping his javelin in his hand.
"I've been waiting for this moment for all my life." Achilles began to walk, then he broke into a sprint before his arm shot out and the javelin soared through the air. Li-Hua spotted the javelin heading towards her and whispered underneath her breath. "Oh lord."
Li-Hua cast a spell underneath her feet, teleporting far away. The moment Achilles' javelin touched ground, a shockwave rocked everybody off their feet. Once they got up, they saw a huge plume rise up from where Li-Hua was sniping from.
"What the hell is wrong with them?" Murayama screamed as she got back up.
Raynare looked at the two fighters and realised that this was what Azazel meant by watching out for the wildcards. They had the power and skill to destroy her easily. What other tricks did they have up their sleeves? The fact that they looked up to Issei as their leader was mind-boggling. How could they follow someone who could barely beat her?
"You're confused." Tamamo spoke up beside her as she continued to watch the pair fight with their bladed weapons.
Raynare frowned. "About what?"
"About why they would follow him?" Tamamo nodded her head towards Issei.
"He's not that impressive."
"Ufufufu, and what would that make you?" Raynare's stink eye went unnoticed by Tamamo.
"Issei is not weak because he is." An explosion rang out in the distance as Issei cheered his two friends on.
Tamamo smiled ruefully. "He's weak because he chooses to be."
'Is it wrong to be kind?'
Asia Argento had pondered the question when she had left Europe, excommunicated from the church. She had been praised by them, they had called her 'The Holy Priestess' and she had thanked God for giving her the gift to help people, to heal the sick and the people in pain. Until one day, she had helped him, a devil, but she had smiled and used her power to heal him.
When they found out what she had done, all the praises turned to scorn. "A gift that can heal a devil is blasphemous!" They said.
Her kindness, her compassion was rewarded with pain and betrayal.
'Is it wrong to feel joy and sorrow?'
She was far out of her comfort zone. She had lived a life devoting herself to serving God and healing the sick with her power, but she had always wished to know what it was like to be the people she saw, who laughed and cried. To simply be like them instead of being 'The Holy Priestess' and a cynical thought entered her mind for a moment, 'Now I have all the time in the world to be normal.'
But her train of thought was interrupted, when she felt a droplet of rain splash on her face, and she realised that the clouds had darkened, the grey cast over the sky as more droplets fell. She stood there in the rain, her suitcase clutched tightly in one hand as she closed her eyes and simply lost herself in the cascade of water.
Her clothes were completely soaked at this point but she found that the rain was liberating, in a way. Many would say that the rain was quite sad, that it was reminder of the all the misfortune in your life, but the rain was there for the people who needed it to express their sorrows. Even when their tears had dried up long ago or to mask her tears. She loved the rain, the way that it poured down on her, drenched her, it was washing away her past, her faults and absolving her of her sins.
She noticed that her body had stopped being pelted by the rain and saw a hand holding an umbrella over her. She traced that hand to an arm and eventually to the face of a handsome brown-haired boy, who smiled warmly at her. He was dressed in a long coat and he kept his eyes on her. She wanted to look away but he was mesmerising.
"You're gonna catch a cold, if you stay out here like that." His voice hummed in contentment, as he stared out towards the emptiness, the never-ending rain. "But it is something to admire, you know, the rain."
She felt her heart beat faster, standing closely to this angel, the thunderous roar dulled to white noise as she focused on his words. "If we fall in the mud, the rain would be there to wash it away, purifying us, leaving us cleansed and whole again.
"The rain moves from drizzling to torrential, you think to yourself, that things will always be like this, that it will never get better, and it will only continue to get worse."
The pounding of her heart drowned out the rain and his eyes, so warm and full of compassion, stared deeply into her own. She felt her mood lift up, her sadness being washed away by his smile like the water down a storm drain.
"Even though the rain can be quite sombre to many, it's necessary for us to have these sad times because it makes the good times all the more precious." He unclasped the long coat and brought it over her shoulders.
"C'mon, this will warm you up." She nodded shyly, accepting it.
"Thank you, I'm just going through a trial from God..." She trailed, embarrassed that she didn't ask for his name but he returned it with a soft smile on his lips.
"Oh, you're a sister of the cloth?" She shuffled nervously on the spot, not sure how to answer that she was excommunicated from the church, as the topic was still too sore to mention in front of a stranger, albeit a handsome one. No, she had to keep impure thoughts out of her mind.
"I-is it alright if you help me find the church in this town?" She asked quietly and the warm smile was there again, making her heart beat and her face flush.
"As you wish." Asia never knew the moment she took his hand, her life would irrevocably change.
Dohnaseek groaned as he craned his neck, Asia's Twilight Healing restoring him back to full health.
"Damn, that brat!" He slammed his fist down on the pew. Asia flinched and kept her hands hovered over him. Dohnaseek regarded the weakling with disdain.
Leave." Asia bowed and left Dohnaseek to himself.
Dohnaseek had to remind himself that Kokabiel had graced him with an important task. Failure was not something that he wanted, no, he would succeed in this. He needed the power to do so in order to climb higher within the organisation. Higher than Raynare, and even, he thought with cruel ambition, higher than Kokabiel himself. Much as Dohnaseek wanted to kill the pest that beat him, he had to concede that he was a decent fighter that could batter him so easily and with sheer ruthlessness.
He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice a figure slink out of the shadows and hover high above him on a stone gargoyle. A cloaked figure sat with one leg swinging out.
"Hmm, you fallen are always so short-sighted aren't you?" The cloaked figure said.
Dohnaseek's spear appeared in his hand. "Who the hell are you?"
"Someone who's interested in the death of one annoying human. Tell me, do you want the power to destroy him?"
Dohnaseek lowered his spear. "I'm listening."
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Next Update: 26/02/18