Murmuring broke out in the class of few as this unusual task was set upon them.

"Here's the deal. We got some official school biz lined up soon, so we need a good ol' fashion Dahag-brand round-up."

Kintoki pulled out a sheet of paper that had a list of names on it. These were probably the names of the other students they needed to find… Angra sighed. Wasn't this a job for the teachers?

Okita put her hand up.

"How long we got, Cap'n?"

"Shouldn't take you guys more than a week. We only need to meet the minimum number requested, but if we don't… Carmilla-sensei will get mad again."

The classroom froze and chills ran down everyone's spines. That was a compelling enough reason to get a move on with this task.

Though… our protagonist was blissfully out of the loop in regards to that threat. He pondered what kind of teacher Carmilla was, to be able to make everyone in this class react like that… on second thought, maybe he had a good idea as Tamamo Maya propped up in his mind for some reason. He sweated nervously.

Kintoki wiped himself down again and held the paper out, expecting one of them to take it.

"Hopefully it don't come to that, ay? Make sure to report to me when ya start wrangling them up. Carmilla-sensei asked you guys specifically, so I can't do much to help. Sorry!"

He grinned despite that. He wasn't sorry at all, he was probably glad that the responsibility didn't fall to him. Honestly, the senior population here were so irresponsible… that was an issue because it meant Angra himself couldn't be as irresponsible as he would've liked!

Nobu took lead and snagged the paper, reading over the names as she stood before the class.

"Alright! I'm fired up now, let's do this. Cu's the first one, but he's easy. Probably hanging out somewhere in the forest, taking a nap."

Oh boy, the forest that randomly spawns monsters. What could possibly go wrong? The answer was just about everything for a guy who could barely contest a fly. No, really-

Flashback intensifies…

It was a tense staredown. A singular fly had deemed itself worthy and pesky enough to perch precariously on the edge of the plastic bowl that contained the precious that was a heaping serving of chicken-infused noodles.

Angra's gaze intensified. His intimidating check failed and the fly stood its ground firmly, wiggling its proboscis about in a probing fashion as if it were sniffing up its potential next conquest…

"Don't you dare do it."

The fly was daring to do it. If a tiny, winged insect could giggle diabolically, that was precisely what this fly was doing right now as it fluttered its wings. Angra gasped and readied himself for a battle. It was taunting him, buzzing its wings mockingly… and somewhat menacingly!

The objective was to safeguard the precious cargo… even Angra's own life was forfeit! The objective must be secured!

It raised a leg. Angra gulped as his eyes widened. The first move was about to be made… his heart thumped incessantly against the confines of his ribcage. Sweat dripped profusely from his brows as he equipped his trusty plastic spork.

"This isn't the right thing to do, sir… release that hostage right now!"

The fly's conviction was unnervingly stalwart. It was going to completely fuck up this delicious feast and there was nothing that was going to stop it. Especially not some washed-up shut-in troll! It lurched its tiny body forward…

"I will strike! I swear it!"

Thus, in its last moments, the fly did its own version of a salute. To all its insecty bretheren that would commit to the same deed… this was for all the underappreciated flies out there that fell victim to vile flyswatters. This was for them, damnit! You will not be FORGOTTEN!

The fly plummeted towards the broth of the bowl, sacrificing its entire self to fuck up Angra's day. Such a noble cause…

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

With a cry of anguish, Angra lunged forward to intercept. He must stop this disaster from happening, whatever the cost!

Unfortunately, Angra forgot that his foe was a fucking fly that was falling into a fucking boiling pot of brothy noodles. This was also taking place on a flimsy-as-fuck fold-up table.

And so, Angra majestically crashed into the surface of the table and caused the bowl (and the fly) to turn over. Time stopped for a moment as Angra looked up to see a rain of noodles and sauce… on its way to embrace him. In the face.

CRASH!

Yeah. He was now flailing on the ground, searing hot chicken juice enacting a burning crusade onto the tainted land that was his face. Red hot noodles lashed at him like the malicious whips that scarred Christ and boiling oil cauterized his eyes into temporary blindness. He screamed and rolled around-

BANG!

Oh for fucks sake. And now he has crashed into a mound of empty boxes from the countless deliveries he makes. For some abstract reason that defies anyone's logic ever, there was a full case of soda cans on top. These rained down on him and pummelled into him like a volley of sugar-aluminium infused cannonballs. Holy shit, what a disaster.

Furthermore, one crashed into his tender nuts. That one was from me, yes.

Buried in boxes, squashed by soda cans, burned by noodles… Angra was completely and utterly defeated. As he lay there, groaning in agony and the anguish of defeat, a buzzing was heard… the triumphant fly made its landing on his nose and started to slurp up that delicious, torturous noodle juice.

This was the fly's plan all along. It just needed a seasoning called "suffering".

Now… it was the perfect flavor.

Ang cringed to himself. From that day onwards, he would never have chicken ramen again. It was just far too traumatic to ever re-live that experience! Even just seeing a cup of the stuff sends him into a spiral of manic despair. Tell no one of this. Pork rib was the only escape. The only one.

Anyway. The search begins. Opting to cover a large area in less time, the whole current population of the class mobilized into the woods to search for this Cu Chulainn.

It was a vast expanse from a glance when one was outside it… but travelling through it was a whole different story. It really seemed endless as they just strolled through it while keeping an eye out. Angra wouldn't be surprised if people had become lost in this place and never emerged ever again… how terrifying!

Every tree looked the same as Angra pressed on. The canopy only let vague streams of sunlight seep through, which ironically made the place eerier. All types of fauna could be heard chirping and buzzing in the surrounding foliage. It could really disconnect one from the fact that they were in the middle of established civilization.

"This place is huge… hey guys-"

Trip-

Angra yelled abruptly as he tripped over a tree root and planted his face firmly into the muddy floor. He groaned and wiped it out of his eyes before he stood himself up.

"No one saw that, right?"

You're damn right no one saw that because there isn't anyone nearby to see it!

"... Ah fuuuuck."

At some point, Angra had become lost in the description of nature's decor and had managed to become separated from the others. Put your hand up if you saw this coming.

"And this is the part where something starts to-"

Groooowl…

"- … hunt me?!"

There was a looming black shadow in the distance. Angra could see it and a pair of glowing red eyes. More than that, he could feel a killing intent… if there was one thing he was great at picking up, it was negative intentions of any kind. And this was the worst of all! Such a predatory gaze was fixed upon him. He may as well have had a flashing red target on his back.

Thus, his instincts dictated only one thing to him:

RUN.

This was the absolute worst thing he could've done in this situation, but let's slow things down for some suspense. He sprinted a few meters, swatting away stray branches of bushes to make his escape. He skillfully used that A RANK AGILITY to avoid all those pesky tree roots and managed to gain speed rather quickly-

ROAAAAAR!

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck! Whatever that thing was, it was FAST. It immediately burst forward with jet-like speed, completely bolting forward while somehow swerving through all the trees and obstacles in its path. Even as Angra stepped around a large boulder, the thing just shattered into pieces that scattered like shrapnel.

This knocked Angra down as he rolled down into a ditch of more muddy terrain. Clambering to get up he was suddenly tossed from there into another boulder, enough to crack it as he gasped for the air that was ejected from his lungs.

A glint of red was poised before his face, causing him to gulp. It was the tip of an unnaturally long spear, and its wielder was-

"... Eh? The heck are you?"

Some blue-haired cunt. The fear left Angra's body all of a sudden, leaving nothing but adrenaline to pump his heart rate as he stared at the man who was seemingly hunting him. Was this… really it? Like, he felt a monster chasing him… but looking now, this man wasn't a monster at all.

"This sure is a weird type of monster."

You're the monster! Angra was panting too much to even utter a word as he slumped against the rock… the spear gleamed as it poked closer, causing him to straighten back up. This time, he managed to squeeze out a couple words.

"The… haa… haa… FUCK!"

"Oh, it talks. Probably not a monster then!"

The spear was taken away and Angra was finally allowed to relax. He crumpled to the floor in a tired heap as he slowly restored his oxygen reserves. The blue-haired cunt laughed and twirled that massive spear effortlessly before it vanished before their eyes. A hand extended out towards Angra, which he begrudgingly seized after gaining enough breath back.

"Name's Cu Chulainn. Sorry 'bout that, thought you were a passing monster. Been getting lots of 'em nowadays."

"I… know."

"So you a newbie or something? From your looks, you're definitely a Dahag. 'Sides, why else would you be here?"

"We've… been looking for YOU."

Cu blinked, then rubbed his chin.

"Me? Something actually going on?"

"Yeah. Carmilla-sensei or whatever wants everyone gathered up. Or at least a few of us."

"Riiiight. I guess we gotta listen to the teachers then. I already know well enough to not defy those types…"

He sweatdropped as he looked to the side, seemingly remembering something awful. Now that Angra looked at him properly, he was a tall fuck. Tall and chiselled… damn, what was with most of the other guys here being well-defined? Angra himself wasn't too bad, but he was more scrawny than anything. The only other guy more his level seemed to be Robin… and even then, Angra kinda figured he was hiding it under that mantle.

Not that Angra liked thinking about topless men… no, not at all. Oh god he can't stop thinking about it now. All the shirtless men of Dahag. Even the other Houses. Rippling man bods everywhere, sweating in the morning sun after a workout…

"NOOOO!"

Angra smashed his head into the rock, causing it to split in two. Cu looked on, surprised.

"You… 'kay?"

"Never better."

Freed of the gay-ass shit that plagued his mind previously, he gave a thumbs up as blood from his head wound completely coated his face. Cu could only laugh as he patted Angra on the back.

"You're fucking hilarious! Glad to have ya… uh…"

"Angra Mainyu."

"Cool name, Ang."

The blue-haired cunt wasn't all that bad. Aside from the fact that he tried to Pr*dator the fuck out of Angra just now. Also, Ang. That was a pretty good abbreviation of his name. He figured he'd use that from now on. It's not like the main protagonist of any other series goes by that name, right?

Any that do are STUPID-

Suddenly, a female's voice rung out from the nearby trees. No, not those trees. Those trees. There you go.

"Noooow… I wonder where is my hound is hiding~... yooohoooo~. Your Queen requests… no, demands your presence, little hound!"

Cu's face distorted into one that only really spelled "oh no". He slowly turned to Ang.

"Yo… let's get outta here. That's someone I'd rather not deal with right now."

If it was someone he didn't wanna deal with, it was someone Ang didn't even wanna know! Thus, in unison, the two lads beelined in the opposite direction. This will be an encounter for a later time. Hopefully much, much later.

They decided to rendezvous with the others. Cu seemed to know his way around the forest like the back of his hand, somehow. By the time they emerged from the forest, Nobu had already found another of the missing students.

This led the two of them to the sports shed out the back of the old building… of course, keeping with the trends of Dahag so far, this wasn't the sports shed at all.

As they approached it, the thick stench of metal work and crude oil caused even the stalwart Cu to scrunch up in expression. Welding could be heard from within the shed, which was appropriately dubbed the "motor pool". The shutter door whined as it slowly dragged itself open-

There was a fucking TANK inside. Nobu was also there.

"I found one! Seems like you did too, good work weakling!"

To be fair, this wasn't hard at all to find. There seemed to be someone on a rolling bed, welding away underneath the metal behemoth on treads. Cu walked up to the thing and wracked his knuckles against it lightly with a clang.

"The heck is this thing?"

"WHO TOUCHED SHEILA-CHAN?!"

The bed suddenly shot out from underneath and a profoundly oil-stained guy popped up to push Cu away from his "treasure". Aside from the filthy overalls he wore, the guy had shoulder-length auburn hair and a freaking eyepatch. It made his single amber eye all the more intimidating as it locked onto Ang.

"Huh. What's with the crowd now?"

"I'm Ang. This is Cu. And what the hell is "Sheila"?"

"Name's Zizka. And Sheila? Sheila-chanis my treasure. Look, but don't touch. I don't want her hull to get scratched."

"No no, I mean… what is it meant to be, aside from a tank?"

Zizka sighed in exasperation as if Ang just asked the dumbest question in the world.

"Firstly, that's SHE to you, not it. And she's obviously the Iosef Stalin, a piece of armored vehicle finery despite hailing from the USSR. She's commonly referred to as the IS. Isn't a beautiful name? This is technically the IS-2 since it has a-"

"I really don't give a fuck."

Deciding to opt out of the lecture on Second World War armored warfare, Ang left Cu to the wolves as Zizka decided to lecture him instead. Already taking one for the team, what a great guy. Cu was pretty alright.

Nobu and Ang stepped out of the grimy workshop, leaving the tank-man to his tank.

"Ain't that thing just awesome? I can't wait for Zizka to lemme drive it!"

We do not need Nobu driving a fucking Soviet tank.

"Where are the others?"

"What do you think, weakling? Still looking, of course! We must resume the search."

She pulled out the list which she had gotten from Kintoki and read through it. Seems like she was picking out the easiest ones to find. That, and there were only really a handful of developed characters that were ready to be introduced.

"This one next! Robin was on his way to the main campus so go join him!"

She wrote the name down on a slip of paper and punched it into Ang's chest, causing him to fall over. She laughed as he panted and got back up. What a bully…

And with that, the Demon King dashed off towards the school building. No doubt she was hot on the trail of another student… Ang rubbed his chest and looked at the provided name as he started to make his way to the main campus.

The name of the next student to find was… Ryoma Sakamoto.