It was a restless night. Strong winds roared relentlessly in the heavens above and the earth below alike. The stars and moon shone at the mercy of the passing clouds, which revealed or covered their celestial radiance at the will of the howling gales. Thus in one moment Kiromachi below was illuminated, but in another, darkness prevailed. All was at the eight winds' mercy as wave after wave exerted their presences upon this quiet town. It was only May, and the climate had yet assumed true summer pleasantness. The winds' chilling attribute thus caused most of the townsmen to favor the indoors tonight, resulting in the almost non-presence of human activities. Even the strays sought refuge in shelters that barred against the cold. Thus the gale traversed through the deserted streets mostly unhindered as it swept up and displaced dust, leaves, and lighter refuse.
Alone outside, high on top of one of the iron framed commercial boards stood a lonely figure. Judging by the white and red priestess garb this person, she was probably a woman, perhaps of teenage years. Her age could not be immediately determined because of a large, straw hat she wore, which successfully hid the top half of her face in shade. Her loose, holy attire fluttered violently in the winds. A pink, sakura-patterned cloak she wore about her shoulders, which also, due to the gale, waved at the mercy of the cold wind. The gold and silver tassels, adorned to the hilt of her long nodachi resting inside its sheath of black and gold embellishments, also followed suit. There up high she stood, oblivious to the cold. She silently listened, waiting for even the slightest stir and disturbances in the patterns of the wind.
She was not disappointed by her effort, for soon she detected, among the cries of the winds, sounds of chiming bells from the invisible detectors she had laid in preparation beforehand. Having located the position of her designated prey, she slowly parted her thin eyelids, revealing two orbs of deep obsidian shining with youthful eagerness. She wasted no time to look toward the source of the chime, and proceeded leaping gracefully off her observing position, descending to a lower roof. She continued her extraordinary feat of leaping from one building to another, closing in on her target with each leap. Once close, she descended into the streets and caught sight of the demon pursued. It was a weak demon with no definitive shape, existing as a lump of grey matter. Its movement was that of bounces, and when the priestess drew near it increased its pace, only to find that it was still being overtaken by her. Ordinarily adversaries of this stature would not be exorcised by someone of her caliber. However it was ever elusive, having already escaped countless exorcists' pursuit. If allowed time to feed off the spiritual energy of people and animals it possessed, it would definitely become trouble for the non-magical community. Thus, all the way from Kyoto she was sent to pursue it, and tonight she had finally cornered it here. When the priestess deemed her target to be within her range, she materialized in her left hand a yellow charm, and began to chant. The charm immediately burst into life with yellow radiance and aligned itself between its master and her target. Doing a couple hand signs and shooting her right index and middle finger at the charm, she declared "Reidou no Yon, Ikazuchi! (Spiritual Art Number Four, Thunder!) [霊道の四、雷!]" A single ray of deadly gold extended from the charm and raced straight toward its victim. Upon impact, the attack damaged at and paralyzed the demon for a spell. The priestess took advantage of this and closed in on her adversary, placing it within her sword range.
Unable to escape, the grey matter leaped in for a tackle attack once it regained control of its senses, only to be easily side-stepped by its pursuer. Then, drawing out her long blade, the priestess brought her hand down swiftly and mercilessly in one vertical slash. Sparks flew as metal met the demon's barrier, but its feeble defense was soon split and disintegrated into nothingness. Not allowing her prey another defense or opportunity to escape, she quickly turned her sword around for an uppercut. The attack sliced into the demon's flesh like knife to butter, and it howled in great pain as it witnessed its body severed in half. Due to the purifying effect of the priestess' blade, the severed sections began to whither and disintegrate, turning into thick, black goo.
When the demon was reduced to nothing more than a black puddle, the priestess sighed with relief and placed a red charm into the liquid and chanted. The charm burst into flame and the magical fire produced consumed the demonic residue. "I guess that's it for now," the priestess mumbled absent-mindedly. When the flame died from having no more fuel to burn, she muttered a prayer to the quelling souls and walked into the darkness, disappearing into the night. Unbeknownst to her, however, the charred demonic remains, again, slowly but surely, congregated.
Later that night, an unsuspecting (and quite unfortunate) drunkard, staggering homeward in the cold wind, met, and was consumed whole by the defeated demon…
Next day…
After a full, eventful day of what seemed like endless torture of lectures upon lectures, the much welcomed bell signaling finality to the day at last rang through Kiromachi High. The blonde Takaishi Takeru used this gratifying moment to thoroughly stretch his sore limbs as he prepared to return home. He wouldn't be leaving with either Sakuya or Hikari today. Sakuya was already relocated to another classroom for a retest of last week's quiz, and Hikari…
"Ta~keru~kun!" came the voice of his friend the landlady.
"What's up, Hi~kari~chan?" asked Takeru, matching her enthusiasm. When the spring session began, the trio was relocated to different parts of the classroom as the result of reseating assignments. While Takeru and Sakuya were lucky enough to again have seats near one another, Hikari, to the guy half of the class's content, was reseated to the other side of the classroom. However, it didn't matter where they sat, as the two still continued to spend most of their time in each other's company, whether it is before school, during breaks, or after school. While most had already accepted the transfer student's "special privilege" of Hikari's 'favoritism' so to speak, including the defeated Kimikura Youhei, it did not stem them from throwing him dirty looks and threatening glares to display their dissatisfaction. On the side note, the said captain of the kendo club made a full recovery from the incident after some medical treatment from principal Fujitaka's associates. With his memory modified about the latter half of the kendo challenge, he continued to attend Kiromachi High as an esteemed upperclassman. Now that the demon had been thoroughly exorcised from his body, he regained his composure and had since made peace with the spectacled blonde and his innkeeper. Takeru and Hikari, of course, were not at all hesitant to accept his apologies.
"Nothing much…" But back to the brunette teen, who trailed off mid-sentence after noticing Takeru's always cheerful face filled with latent fatigue. With the still rising rate of demon activities around the region, Takeru and Sakuya's workload rose proportionally. Because of Joe Weatherforth's current absence, Sakuya's father the principal employed the mages' help for nightly patrols, adding more work to their plates. Already running very tight with their available hours because of their "extracurricular activities," the two are finally feeling the weight of their responsibilities. Takeru, in particular, was still inexperienced as a fulltime mage. The double duty of normal and magical life was finally taking a toll. While it showed for Sakuya as a significant decline in her academics, it came as fatigue for the spectacled blonde, who was now averaging only around four hours of sleep as he attempted to keep up with course materials well into the night. It was only due to magic reinforcements that he had not completely collapsed, although he could feel the drain on his physique would overwhelm him sooner or later. Of course, Hikari knew none of this, and assumed he just had a habit of staying up late. "You look even worse than this morning, Takeru-kun. Are you getting enough sleep? You're gonna catch a cold at this rate!" she inquired the welfare of her tenant with care and worry.
"Now that you've mentioned it, I do feel a little cold. Will you hug me so I feel warmer, Hikari?" he joked.
His friend sighed as she parted stray hair from both their forehead and leaned in against his to take his temperature, and while it wasn't what he had asked for, it surely heightened Takeru's body heat by a few good degrees as her ruby red eyes and rosy lips were merely an inch away from his. "Looks like you're fine for now, though you're kind of warm. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
Honestly? He felt like he could knock out any minute. But a man's pride prohibited the showing of his weak side. "I'm alright, Hikari. I'm just not over the sleepy attribute of Saginomiya-sensei's lecture." He assured her.
"If you're sure then," she relented, even though she didn't completely buy his façade. "In that case, can you do me a favor?"
"For you, princess, I will rise to the sky to catch even the moon from its cele-"
"Cheap words of flattery will not earn you any points with me, Takeru-kun." She abruptly interrupted him, completely bypassing his farce. But he seized a chance to peek at his tan-haired friend's eyes and to his contentment found sparkles of gratitude despite her words.
"All jokes aside, Hikari, what is it you want me to do?"
"Well you see, today's supposed to be my usual grocery run. But with the intra-prefectural archery competition coming up, the club president, that is Tomoyo-chan, is holding extra mandatory practice. Would you mind just picking up some stuff from the downtown stores for me?" she asked, taking out from her skirt pocket a moderately lengthy list.
"Seems like Sakagami-san's working you and Kamikita-san hard. But…grocery shopping huh? Having a man shop for grocery is kind of…lame, don't you think?"
"It's that so? Sorry, I guess I never thought of it like that," the light of her face darkened a bit from disappointment. "I guess that would be a little weird, wouldn't it? Well that's okay I'll just go aft-" but before she can finish, Takeru's nimble fingers had already snatched the grocery list from her possession.
"Only kidding, Hikari. Of course I'd love to help! After all I can't have you carry all those bags right after practice, let alone let you walk alone after dark."
"Really? Yeah! Thank you so much, Takeru-kun!" Without warning, she quickly wrapped her arms around his torso out of pure bliss. Quickly as she hugged him she let go, leaving him in shock,and a bit disappointed that it didn't last longer. "In return I'll make your favorite tonkatsu tonight 'kay? Ah, look at the time! I'll see you back home then!" And like a whimsical wind she, at top speed, flew out the door to headed to practice, not leaving him time to even say goodbye.
Exactly where does she get all that energy from? he wondered as he picked up his packed bag and got ready to leave. Well, that's one thing everyone loves about her, I guess. Sensing a sudden increase in the 'atmospheric pressure' in the classroom as result of Hikari's affectionate display, Takeru made haste and left the room.
The Kiromachi downtown district was as busy as any other day. The streets teemed with students, kids, and adults alike, all on the way to their merry business. It was some work to push through the afternoon crowd of people, but not very long did it take him to come in front of the market street entrance. The market street entrance was one of the places Sakuya had shown Takeru on his first days of arrival, and throughout the past few months he had come regularly to look around, either with Hikari or Sakuya, or sometimes both.
"Yo, Takeru-kun! You're here alone today," called out an elderly lady behind a stand filled with vegetable and other produces.
"Good afternoon, Imagawa-san. Just doing a grocery run for Hikari today," the bespectacled blonde respectfully bowed before answering.
"Oh my, what a gentleman! Hikari-chan is sure a lucky girl to have you as a boyfriend."
"I-Imagawa-san! You know we aren't like that!" flustered, Takeru quickly defended himself.
"Ah, it is so good to be young. I can tell from experience that there's no other couple more fitting than you two! Although you also shouldn't leave Sakuya-chan hanging!" The elderly lady stopped at no end to tease her young customer.
Not knowing how to continue without ending the stand's owner's well-natured teasing, Takeru decided that the quickest alternative to end the torment, was to hightail out of here as soon as possible, "Imagawa-san, sorry, I would love to keep chatting but I should probably finish this quickly and head back before it gets late. Can you give me everything that you have on this list?" he handed her the grocery list he obtained from Hikari.
"Ahaha, can't take anymore teasing for the day? Alright, I suppose I can spare you until next time," elderly lady Imagawa chuckled merrily while preparing Takeru's order. When she finished assembling everything in plastic bags she handed them to him. The blonde British in exchange paid for the obtained items and bade farewell to the elderly stand owner.
"Say hi to everyone at the Yagami Inn for me will ya, Takeru-kun?"
"Of course, thanks as always, Imagawa-san! I'll see you next time," and with that he departed.
Takeru's next destination lay near the end of the market street. He stopped in front of a moderate size shop, with a wooden plaque hung high reading "Tanaka Groceries." Isn't this…where Takeshi-kun works? he thought to himself.
"Takeru-san!" said a voice as he entered the shop. Takeru's thought was confirmed when eleven-year-old blonde of the Yagami-inn appeared before him. The inside of the shop was well-lighted, with seven rows of shelves that carried dried food, flavorings, snacks, and other edible consumables. Few baskets of fruits and other produce were displayed conveniently next to the entrance for purchase. Takehara Takeshi had emerged from one of the rows, aproned in a green apron a tad big for him with the logo 'Tanaka Groceries' in the front center
"Takeshi-kun, good afternoon. Working hard I see!" smiled the older blonde. Time had passed since their little conflict over Takehara Minako, and the younger blonde had come to sense at last to remedy the situation. He found courage to apologize to Takeru, to find the latter had never held him in any distain, something which Takeshi was mightily grateful.
"Are you coming in place of Hikari-nee, Takeru-san?" asked Takeshi as he tidied up some can goods on the shelf next to them.
"Yeah. On the list she said just give it to one of the workers and they'll help me? I suppose you can take care of it right?"
"Let me see," the eleven-year-old retrieved the long grocery list from Takeru's and perused it for a moment. "I'll give this to Tanaka-san, can you wait for a while?"
"Sure," smile the older blonde. He placed down the bag full of groceries he received from Mrs. Imagawa and swung his tired arm slowly to accentuate blood flow. Moments later Takeshi re-emerged from the back of the store with a middle aged, homely lady of short stature. Her kind, motherly face instantaneously allowed Takeru to feel at ease, as if the store was his own house.
"Takeshi-kun, thank you for your help. I'll take care of things here, so can you go take care of things in the back?" the lady implored. The younger blonde gave a nod before disappearing behind the drapes.
"You must be Takeru-kun! Hikari-chan and Takeshi-kun had told me so much of you. Oh my, please excuse my manners! This will be our first time meeting. My name is Tanaka, this humble store's owner," she bowed.
"Ah, it is my pleasure to meet you at last! Thanks for always taking care of our Takeshi-kun," Takeru also bowed in respect to the store owner. "I'm Takaishi, Takaishi Takeru. Please to be able to make acquaintance with you, Tanaka-san."
"Ahaha, Imagawa-san and the others are right, you are a polite one," smiled Mrs. Tanaka. "Hikari-chan sure is a lucky girl, to have you as her friend. I mean, you're even willing to come out of your way to pick up groceries for her." The store owner carried on as she floated from aisle to aisle, picking the needed items off with dexterity that could only be made possible with her extensive familiarity with the shop.
"It really isn't as noble as you make it sound, Tanaka-san. I'm only helping as much as I can. Hikari is busy, after all, with the intra-prefectural archery competition coming up," Takeru said, embarrassed by her exaltation of his otherwise trivial effort.
"It is small things like these that she will take notice, Takeru-kun," commented the shopkeeper merrily. "If you keep it up you'll win her heart in no time."
"Tanaka-san, not you too…" Although he knew they mean no harm, Takeru was a bit tired of the teasing. Sure he liked Hikari, but saw her as nothing more than a friend. That's how he felt, for now anyways, as he didn't even know how she felt about him.
Fortunately, Tanaka-san wasn't as abrasive as Imagawa-san from his first stop. She chuckled as she witnessed the tint of red upon Takeru's cheek, "You must forgive us old ladies for teasing you like this. After all, we all treat Hikari-chan like our own daughter, especially after Susumu-san and Yukiko-chan passed away so suddenly a few years ago. So we all want her to find a man who she can rely on quickly."
Takeru could do nothing but sigh at her words, "I understand but, I don't think I'm qualified to fill in that spot. Besides, surely Hikari has someone that she likes."
Tanaka-san pondered a bit, "Hm…I'm fairly certain that's not so. After all us old ladies watched her grew up, and never before had she shown any interest in that department. Trust my maiden's intuition that she is quite fond of you. Besides, don't you like Hikari-chan too?"
It was a difficult question to answer. He had never seriously given thought on this subject, given that his true objective here was to help combat the rising demon activities in the region. There were moments where she made his heart beat fast, but can that be considered like? Yet he did know that Yagami Hikari was someone with whom he wouldn't mind spending time. No, perhaps that was an understatement. He loved being around the brunette innkeeper. Now that he, for the first time, pondered on this question. When they are together, she always makes him feel unexplainably comfortable and natural, almost as if they had known each other for not a few months, but years. Is it something equal to, or perhaps surpassing, his relationship with Ricameia Hallows, he does not know. But he does know that he cannot deny the fact that he felt something special for the girl, ever since she led him up the stone steps of Yagami Inn for the first time. Is it friendship or love however, one may wonder. Feelings, after all, are a complex matter.
"I do like her, Tanaka-san. But I don't know if it's as friends or more. For now, though, I am content with being her friend." That was the conclusion at which the spectacled blonde arrived.
His response seemed to have satisfied the elder lady, too. "That is a mature answer. Unclear, but true to your heart," she said as she handed him yet another bag of groceries, which he took in his free hand after he had picked up the previous one. "Don't worry about the payment. I'll get it from Hikari-chan next time. Have a safe walk back, and say hi to everyone at the inn for me." Tanaka-san said with a warm smile. Takeru wished that Imagawa-san and the others were more like her as he bade farewell to the kind shopkeeper.
Once emerged from the little store, Takeru could see that it had become quite late. The sun had already slid low in the western sky, and the surrounding environs basked in reddish hue. Hikari and Sakuya should be home by now, he absentmindedly thought as he traversed toward the exit. Once out, he headed for the bus stop, which would take him from the downtown district back to the foot of the hill that where the residential area began. Ah, I can't wait for Hikari's tonkatsu… he salivated at the prospect of the young innkeeper's homemade fried pork chop. His daydream was cut short, however, when he felt a sudden thumping sensation upon his chest. He quickly came back down to earth, and saw before him was a girl in…priestess garb? Apparently he had knocked her down by accident.
"Ah, I'm really sorry miss. Are you ok?" the bespectacled blonde apologized as he shifted the bag on his right hand to his left, allowing him to offer the now free hand to the fallen girl. "Let me help you up."
"Oh my, I'm quite alright. It was my own fault for daydreaming in this kind of crowd," said the girl as she accepted his hand. Once she was back on her feet, Takeru observed her to be of short stature, perhaps a head and a half shorter than he is. The straw hat on her head hid her hair and eyes from his sight, but it's not like he needs to see them anyways. What caught his eyes though, was the long, thin satchel she held in her left hand. Is that…a katana? The blonde wondered, having deduced it to be a Japanese long sword from his familiarity with his father's collections back in Edinburgh.
"So miss, if you don't mind me asking. Are you on your way to a photo shoot or film with that outfit? It's just that I've never seen anyone where that kind of clothes outside of shrines before," asked the blonde foreign exchange student, interest piqued by her eye-catching clothing.
She chuckled with bemusement, "Would you believe me if I say this is my regular clothing?"
"Possibly, if you are of priestess profession. Are you though?"
"Of sort, I suppose," she said simply without clarification before continuing. "By the way, kind sir, would you happen to know where the Yagami Inn is located? I'm afraid to say that I'm not quite familiar with the area."
"Yagami Inn? Sure I do. As a matter of fact I live there. But what business would you have there?" replied the bespectacled blonde.
"Well-" she was about to say when a powerful sensation gushed in from behind her. Something, unfortunately, only Takeru felt. His sudden change in facial expression alarmed the young lady before him. "Is something the matter?"
Takeru was rendered speechless by the close proximity of the incoming wave of magical pressure. Hold on…it's going to appear here? That's not good! His brain wracked with distress and panic signals, Takeru was paralyzed for a good few seconds before his regained composure. "Sorry for the suddenness, miss, but I have an urgent errand I need to run to really quick. Can…can you hold on to these for the time being and we'll meet back here in an hour? Thanks!" And, not waiting for her response, he stuffed his bags full of groceries into her hands and took off without looking back, despite the priestess's words of confusion. Unknown to Takeru however, when he had put a good distance between them, the girl turned around and grinned as she disappeared into the sea of people.
Once he found and entered a little dark alleyway devoid of signs of life, Takeru raised Raging Gale up and geared for the imminent advent of the demon. With a quick flash of blinding golden light the bespectacled blonde was fitted in his usual green and brown medley. With his jeweled long staff firm in his right hand he lifted his left and casted the magical force field which deters sightings of magic activities by those without magic potentials, except this time he added a formula for time-space dislocation as well, given the place where the battle was to ensue was the center of the downtown filled with countless innocents unaware of the danger they now face. Having secured the area, he then he quickly took to the air with his Seraphim's Wings at his heels and scanned the immediate surrounding for the magic signature of the pressure. It came from his left. A white wolf-like beast of around seven-story height was just phasing into being. Damn…he already materialized…can I do this without Sakuya's help? No…I can't doubt myself. I have to stop it here and now! In his little short reverie the demon had notice his presence and was already advancing toward him, toppling buildings in the wake of his charge. Takeru whipped his left hand to his side and conjured twenty orbs of golden light to his side, which he then shot forward like arrows at his adversaries. But the agile wolf sidestepped his twenty magic arrows of light with ease, and proceeded with his charge. Little did it know it was but a ruse, and Takeru then quickly ordered the rays of gold to loop back and struck his enemy from its behind. Though it successfully again to avoid any critical blows, Takeru succeeded in sending several arrows to cut deep into the flesh of the beast's hind legs, momentarily halting its advance as the pain caused it to lose balance. Takeru wasted not a single second to execute his next move. "Magic Shooter, Wind Restraint! Twenty arrows of wind, Restrict Lock!" Twenty binds of wind emerged as the spellcaster's circle erupted from beneath the beast. They proceeded to lock it solidly in place even as it struggled and howled. Though, with every struggle Takeru felt shocks pulsating through his magical circuits notifying him the binds were probably insufficient to hold it there for an extended amount of time.
But that was not a problem to him, so long as they bought enough time for the next phase of his attack. "Altresaz le Maestra! Forty spirits of light from the starry sky, gather thy light in the heavens above, and descend on to earth below in swift obliteration! Starlight Descent!" With the spell uttered from his lips, forty rather sizable spheres of gold materialized above the bespectacled blonde and launched a ten consecutive barrage upon their victim. Takeru winced at the mana drain this spell tolled on his body, but thought that this attack was probably sufficient in incapacitate his foe, if not utterly obliterate it to smithereens. I have to thank Mo-chan for teaching me this spell, he thought with satisfaction. Interestingly enough most of the attack spells in Takeru's arsenal was formulated first by his younger sister Mogusaki Takaishi, a prodigy in magical theory, calculation for precise mana consumption, and many other fields. During past summer vacations the bespectacled blonde would occasionally test (in other words, her guinea pig for) Mogusaki's new magic formulas for mana manipulations, some of which Takeru then polish anew. More complex spells like the Divine Buster and others which require longer arias all owed their base formulas to his bright sister's calculations, though this one, the Starlight Descent, was exclusively her creation. Quick with devastating effects and only requiring a short incantation and cast time, it was perfect for immobilizing opponents quickly. This was its first time being used in actual combat effectively.
His congratulations would have to wait, however, as a loud howl reached the skies when the smoke began to clear. Takeru was taken aback when he saw his opponent was still very much at battle readiness, albeit a bit roughed up by his attack.
This attack is perfect for launching a surprise attack on the opponent, who probably would not have time to put up any defense. However, if by an off-chance the opponent is able to put up even a shield, then this attack becomes merely a minute annoyance as it lacks the time to condense mana to pierce effectively. Such was the analysis that Mogusaki had reached during their tests, and apparently was the case for this situation. The demon had successfully in either steeling his body against the attack or summoned a shield for deflection. Which was what had happened Takeru did not know, but it probably didn't matter because with the restraint now loose the white wolf with one leap took to the air in his direction. Its fangs of death protruded from its mouth as Takeru quickly conjured a round shield to deny its path. The weak makeshift defense quickly crumbled, but had allowed the blonde enough time to draw Rengetsu. Gold steel locked with the demon's fangs as he was propelled back midair by the leap's sheer momentum.
If the attacks can't get through his hide, then how about this! With this thought, Rengetsu's body began to glow with a golden light. "Soutenmeitsukiryuu Kai, Ichi no Tachi, Getsuga! [蒼天明月流改、一の太刀、月牙！] (Style of Azure Sky, Bright Moon Custom, First Blade, Crescent!)" To the best of his ability, Takeru swung the golden blade forward. The aura left the blade in a crescent shape and poured into the beast's mouth. Fangs loosened as the attack's power forced it back toward the earth with undeniable force, wreaking havoc on the vulnerable innards unprotected by its thick hide. Once on the ground, the silver wolf tried as it may to return onto its feet, but found its strength lacking and growled in pain from the immense damage it took. Seeing his adversary unable to continue resistance, the spectacled blonde landed next to it and sighed with relieve before raising his hand to summon enough mana for a last hit.
"Altresaz le Maestra. Light of destruction which vanquishes my foe, I summon thee from afar, from the heavens above. Stars, gather and transform into the light which pierces through all. Scorch the earth with divine righteousness!" With his words, thousands of light particles began to gather in the sky above. Extricating every ounce of residual magic in the vicinity, the spell grew into a very sizable orb which radiated outward with blinding gold light. As the sphere absorbed more magical energy, it grew even larger in dimension.
"Tear through all, blazing light, and impale through all defense! Overture, Excelion B-"
But before the spell was declared, a faint tint flashed in the corner of Takeru's eyes. Sense of danger forced the blonde mage to withdraw his command on the spell to dodge.
While it was very wasteful to let all the gathered mana to dissipate wastefully into the atmosphere, it was the right decision. As soon after he cleared from the position, vertical silvery flash filled the recently vacated spot.
"What the-" but before he could mutter out another word, Takeru quickly fell back to prevent his torso from being opened into two. He did caught sight of the source of danger, however. A mixture of red and white filled his vision as he somersaulted backwards and once on his feet, brought up Rengetsu to intercept the next attack. Two blades deadlocked and yellow sparks flew from the impact. The bespectacled blonde realized his new opponent was…
"It's you…why are you doing this?"
The girl in front of him giggled playfully, "Why, I can't have you beat up on my pet like that, can't I?"
"Your what?" Takeru asked. But without answering him, the straw-hat priestess jumped back from the deadlock and launched a vertical pierce. Takeru brought his own blade up and on the mark parried the girl's katana upward, causing her to momentarily lose balance. Takeru seized this chance to, with his left elbow extending, dash forward attempting to strike at her stomach. But the priestess recollected herself faster than he imagined, and blocked his attack with her free hand and exclaimed, "Reidou no Jyuu, Hatenrai [霊道の十, 破天雷] (Spiritual Art Number Ten, Sky-Shattering Thunder)!" Her palm connecting with Takeru's elbow grew exceedingly yellow, before long an overwhelming force pushed him away as shocks ran up his arm, momentarily disabling any action and leading him to loosen his grip on Rengetsu as he fell a foot away with back against ground.
"This…is…reidou…? But…how?" Takeru staggered out as he fought against the tingling sensation which rendered him immobile. The priestess in red and white used this chance to walk to his side, and pointed her blade at the blonde's throat.
"Tsk Tsk Tsk…is this all you've got? I'm disappointed, western mage-san. I thought you would prove to be more of a challenge than this," she taunted. "Though, I have to give you props on being able to defeat my shikigami, as he is one of the strongest guardians I possess."
"Cursed…who are you, and why are you doing this?" asked the bespectacled blonde, trying to buy as much time as possible from his imminent end.
To this the girl again giggled, "Why, are you asking for mercy? That tone isn't fitting with a person who's begging for his life."
"I'm not…begging for anything. Not from someone…who would attack people from behind…" Takeru accused, and he would back up his words if strength in his body would just recuperate faster.
"Ahaha, sounds to me you're indignant. But what can I say? All is fair in love and war, is it not? A loser should just accept his fate and accept his lot, wouldn't you say so?"
"Strength…is for protecting the weak…not exploiting them!"
Again the priestess laughed at his remark, "Those words lack strength coming from the one who cannot defend himself properly. They are just excuses the weak use to place chains of burden on the strong. In other words, it is absolutely meaningless to those with real power."
"…" Takeru's inability to reason with her left him speechless.
"Looks like you understand this logic too. Well, it's been fun, western mage-san, but this will be where we part ways. Good bye, for eternity," and even as her hands thrust forward, her smile was unchanging. Cold steel protruded the blonde mage's throat as red blood met the black earth. Everything then went dark as Takeru's body staggered for a bit, before finally rested lifelessly. The straw-hat priestess, having taken the life of her opponent, indulged herself in malicious laughter. So ends, the adventure of the Takaishi Takeru.
If only it were that simple. Cold sensation beside her exposed neck abruptly ended her laughing frenzy, and when she tilted her head to see the source of this new development, she observed what now threatening her life was the same golden blade which moments before had lay silently on the ground, a good distance from where they now were.
"That was a close call, and quite honestly, would have been brutally painful," said a voice, which not long ago had filled the priestess' ears, and out of all things in the world not what she had expected.
"You…how did you…"
Takeru chuckled at her now trembling words, "Soutenmeitsukiryuu, jyuu no tachi, Shimotsuki [蒼天明月流、十の太刀、霜月] (Style of Azure Sky, Bright Moon, Tenth Blade, Frost Moon). This attack uses mana to crystalize all water particles surrounding the user, and they then distort light to cast mirage or simply hide the presence of the user. What you had, for a lack of better words, mutilated, was an alchemic substitute, a soulless homunculus, given to me by my sister's friend Iris before I left the British Isles."
"Homon…culus?"
"In other words, artificial human being, and it is the epitome of alchemy, since only those with extraordinary talents in many fields of magical realm can ever create this," the bespectacled blonde explained, not allowing even a moment's rest at holding his opposition at his mercy. From what he had observed within the safety of the mirage mist that the slightest wiggle room will be a giveaway for her, and he really possessed neither the mana nor the confidence to again retake the position of strength.
"Wahaha…it seems I've been completely outwitted," she laughed easily. Though her life now hanged by the thread in the reversal of fortune, the priestess was quite calm and nonchalant to the cold metal next to her exposed neck. "Should we, make a deal then?"
"What sort of deal?" the blonde questioned flatly, wonder what sort of trick she had up her sleeves this time.
"Let's see…how about this? In exchange for letting me go free, I'll spare your life?" she suggested smugly.
Takeru resisted the temptation to drive his blade through her exposed flesh right this instant. Either she's foolishly confident in her own abilities, or just completely nuts. The spectacled blonde at the moment leaned toward the latter.
"That's the most outrageous proposal I have ever heard in my entire life! Do you not have any idea of the circumstances right now?"
Hearing his retort, the priestess laughed with condescension for a good while before continuing, "I think you're the one who doesn't understand. You, should be nearly out of mana by now, correct?"
Her remark sent nervous shocks throughout his entire body, "And what of it?" Takeru tried his best to hide any discomfort.
"This force field which we're in…it's running on your mana, is it not? What would happen, let's say, if it simply disappear?"
The result would be catastrophic…Inside Takeru knew of the consequence if he drag on the battle too long. A mage's mana supply is not infinite. It was a concept well taught by his combat instructor in his Corneria days. Especially in this case, when not only temporal but also special manipulation had been added to the barrier, any damages which was done to the field of battle would, undoubtedly, manifest itself in the real world once the spell is lifted, by will or not. As the priestess' wolf shikigami and Takeru's spells had bulldozed through much of the buildings, the result would not be pretty. And the blonde could only imagine the horror it would spread among the citizens of Kiromachi. It would make the news, most likely, and I would probably be called in by MCA (Magical Central Authority) agents for interrogation, possibly having my apprentice license revoked…such would be the gravity of the situation, Takeru thought in his mind. The scenario is very unfavorable to him at the moment, and he already dispelled his battle gear back to his regular clothes to conserve what little mana he had left, yet still need more to restore the battleground to the way it was before lifting the temporal and spatial dislocation.
"Judging from your silence, my proposal has become more…desirable to you, hasn't it?"
On one hand the blonde could not let this crazy criminal roam free, but on the other he did not have the energy left to deal with her. He was out of options, truly between a rock and a hard place. Only two alternatives remain…
"One, you can let me go, and use whatever mana you can scrape from yourself and the surrounding to rectify the damages. The townspeople won't be disturbed, but you will have a dangerous criminal on the loose, with potentials to harm those who you wish to protect." Interestingly enough, it was his adversary who spelled them out to him. "Or two, you can kill me, and then rectify the damages. The townspeople won't be disturbed, and you would have brought a dangerous criminal to justice. Now, I am interested to which path you take, western mage. Will you stand by your code of honor as a mage of Guardia to never take a life? Or will you commit the necessary evil, to stain your hands red with the blood of your enemy to protect those who you care about? Choose wisely, western mage, for time is of the essence. AHAHAHAHAHA!" As if delving into insanity, the priestess laughed with such crudeness and cruelty, head turned to the spectacled blonde, observing his every movement, every breath, with such lustful enjoyment which could only be best described as an orgy. High and drunk from elation, she awaited her judgment from the seventeen-year-old Takeru Winston Dansforth Takaishi, Corneria graduate class of 2006; current occupation: licensed apprentice mage.
Until next time.
Kibou no Hane