Hello again everyone. So, this past weekend wasn't too bad. Friday and Saturday, I spent both afternoons putting up hay with my dad. We're nearly done, thankfully. We finish up today, so happy days! Other than that, life is pretty good I suppose, although I'm a bit ticked off at a few friends. We were to meet in August for one's wedding, but she's yet to get in touch with me. I've called twice thus far, and am getting near my irritation limit, in which I'll just say screw it and not go. Such lovely friends, lol. Anyways, other than that, life is decent.
Writing wise, things are still going well I suppose. I've slowed a bit on working on this story, but I am so close to the exciting parts that I may get back on it. Eh, working on two stories is not as much fun as I thought it would be, lol. One thing is for certain, I may not do it again. Doing a one-shot is one thing while working on a story, but completing a whole other story is hard, lol.
Ok, moving along, time for reviews!
Mitsukai – Lady of Gryffindor: Glad you liked it. Thanks about writing sword fights. I tried really hard to get them to sound halfway decent. I still think they could use some work, but that's just a writer's perspective I guess, hehe. But yes, they're getting back to the story, with Iya revealing his past battles. Thanks for the review.
kattana: Thanks, and thanks for the review!
And that's that. Thank you both for your reviews. I truly appreciated both of your reviews, just so you know. Thank you both once more.
At any rate, that's it for today. I hope you all enjoy! Later!
Chapter 37
"After my fight with Kenpachi and Yoruichi, I made a trip to visit Ryo at his home." Iya quietly said. "What I had done to Yoruichi weighed heavily on my heart, and I couldn't live with what I had done. I had killed the one I was to free and save."
Pausing for a moment, he soon added "I arrived at Ryo's and he explained things to me then. He told me that once a mage takes a human and casts their transformation spell on them, which has the binding spell in it, that once the binding spell is completed, there is no chance for that human turned half demon to be freed from the mages. If the mage is killed after the thirty day grace period, then the half demon will suffer a terrible fate. The half demon will transform into their full demon state, becoming a mindless demon with only one thought: to kill. They will remain that way the rest of their lives, until they are killed."
A deathly silence filled the group, mostly Lilly and Kagome more than the others. "But that was a lesson learned." Iya soon said. "Once I learned that lesson, I calculated my attacks more than I had previously. I waited till the mages were on the hunt for new slaves before I attacked."
"Though I had killed Yoruichi, I swore to not let another slave suffer that fate. So, I moved on and stalked the mages like before. With my victory over Kenpachi, the mages took me more seriously."
Smiling slightly, Iya added "After running after the mages for another seventy-five years, I finally caught up with two of them. They were a pair of brothers, and they had decided to face off with me."
--
Racing through the forest at a quick pace, Iya sniffed the air and picked up the scent of the two mages he had been after for the last few days. He had managed to interrupt their attempt in taking slaves, thus angering the pair of brothers, but hadn't cared. Rather than face him, the pair had run off and had been running since, but at long last, Iya was catching up with them.
Arriving on a bank next to a river with a clearing, Iya quickly spotted the two brothers that stood waiting. The first had blonde hair that was held back in a ponytail, golden eyes, and creamy skin. His clothing was that of the other mages; a set of black robes.
Beside of the blonde mage stood another young man, this one with sandy blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail at the same length of the other mage, brown eyes, and also cream colored skin. Like the mage beside of him, his clothing consisted of a set of black mage robes.
Looking at the two mages, Iya sniffed the air, finding no signs of the other mages in the area. Returning his full attention to the pair, he softly asked "So, you two have decided to fight me?"
"Don't think this will be like the battle you had with Kenpachi Zaraki." the one with golden eyes fiercely declared. "Me and Al here are much smarter than that lug ever was."
Glancing between the two, Iya closed his eyes and slowly reopened them. "Edward and Alphonse Elric, that are your names, correct?" Iya calmly asked.
Both mages nodded and opened their robes, revealing clothing underneath. The golden eyed mage wore a black pair of pants and a jacket, with a pair of black boots on his feet and white gloves on his hands. The brown eyed mage wore the same outfit to the other.
"So, you two dress alike too?" Iya mused aloud.
Smirking, the golden eyed one replied "Al just happens to like to dress like me. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him."
Sniffing the air once more, Iya glanced between the two and said "The two of you are lion demons. Am I correct?"
"Good nose." Al warmly replied. "It's a shame you didn't leave us alone. You seem nice enough, so I think we should warn you, for the crime you committed against us, you'll die."
"What crime is that?" Iya casually asked.
Lightly chuckling, Ed smartly responded with "You should know, idiot. That fight with Kenpachi earned you a death sentence from us. We've just been biding our time till we could kill you."
"Lucky me." Iya commented with a small smirk while placing his hand on Ketsaiga's hilt.
Making a quick series of hand signs, Al clapped his hands together and slammed his palms into the ground. "Summoning spell: Iron Giant!" Al cried out.
Materializing before the lion demon immediately was a large suit of armor that was kneeling on the ground. The suit's metal shined brightly, with a single white strip of fabric hanging off it's helmet. On the armor's shoulders were a set of spiked shoulder pads. It wore a loincloth to conceal it's lower region and had black in it's elbow joints and fingers. Slowly, the suit of armor stood up with it's armor clanking while it did so.
Standing as well, Al walked forward, touching the back of the armor. The armor shimmered slightly and he walked into the shimmering glow, vanishing completely.
Examining the suit of armor, Iya sniffed the air and found that Al's scent had merged with the metal, giving off a strange new scent. "What in the world!? How can he vanish?"
Hearing the sound of clapping hands, Iya snapped out of his thoughts and saw Ed touching his right arm with his left hand. His arm glowed momentarily, but there was no visible change. Clapping his hands once more, Ed touched his left leg, which glowed like his arm, but didn't seem to change.
Smirking, Ed clasped his hands again and touched his right hand with his left one and pulled it away. His right arm shimmered with a light blue aura as a metallic blade grew from his right wrist, shredding his white glove instantly and revealing a metal covered right hand.
"What the hell?" Iya gasped out while looking in disbelief at the mage's hand.
Sneering, Ed cockily asked "Like what you see?"
"But how?" Iya questioned with confusion in his voice.
"I can manipulate my body with my alchemy, turning my arm into metal. I can then manipulate that metal into whatever I wish. However, it isn't easy. After all, performing magic on my own body is difficult, but I'm not worried about it." Ed confidently remarked.
Slightly annoyed by Ed, Iya drew Ketsaiga, sparking it's transformation. "I see. Well then, shall we?"
"Thought you'd never ask. Ready Al?"
"Ready." Al's voice replied with a bit of a metal tang to it.
Nodding, Ed streaked forward towards Iya, who readied himself and raised Ketsaiga up, parrying Ed's quick attack. The sword on Ed's arm and Ketsaiga clashed, sending sparks flying out into the air the moment they clashed. Iya didn't have time to try and counter attack, for instantly the suit of armor came running in and struck out at Iya with a heavy metal fist. With barely any time to react, Iya dodged at the last moment, but not before getting grazed by the suit's heavy fist.
Landing onto the ground, Iya rubbed his side from where the suit had just barely grazed him. Glaring at the hulking suit of armor, he prepared to move on it when Ed suddenly whirled over top of it and sent his sword slashing at Iya. With only a moment to spare, Iya parried with Ketsaiga once more, but again the suit of armor appeared next to him, with it's fist drawn back.
Reacting a bit faster this time, Iya pushed himself backwards, effectively dodging the large suit of armor's fist again. Glancing between the suit of armor and Ed, Iya smirked and casually said "Not bad for a tin can and someone with a metal arm."
"Yeah, well, not bad for a half demon." Ed smugly commented.
A bit irked by Ed's words, Iya studied the two before him. "They're attacking simultaneously, making it hard for me to counter them. The suit of armor, it must have Al within it, although I can't get a clear scent of him. It's like him and the suit of armor is one, but that's not possible, I think. Then again, I'm not capable of magic, thus I wouldn't know what is possible or not."
Iya's thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of clanking armor. Glancing up, he saw the suit of armor charging him. The suit pulled back it's heavy right arm and swung at Iya, who ducked. Without warning, Ed appeared on the left side of the suit of armor with his sword pulled back and ready to stab Iya.
Unable to move quick enough, Iya felt Ed's sword plunge into his stomach. The urge to gasp out in pain was heavy, but Iya resisted and quickly retreated a short distance. Blood soaked through his kimono top where Ed's sword had struck him.
Feeling the wound, Iya flinched lightly from the pain. "It's not too bad of a wound, but it's bad enough. That attack caught me off guard. I need to split them apart before I get myself killed."
Glancing up, he saw the suit of armor charging him, fists raised. Seeing the gap closing quickly, Iya raised his sword up and slammed it into the ground towards the suit of armor, screaming out "Wind Slash!"
Blazing a path before Iya's sword was a beam of white demonic energy. The energy slammed hard into the suit of armor, which let out a gasp of shock before getting hit. A scream filled the air soon enough while the armor went flying backwards onto the ground with a huge thud.
Quickly running to the side of the armor, Ed fell to his knees and cried out "AL!! Are you alright!?"
Shakily, the armor sat up and slowly stood. With a metallic tang in his voice, Al replied "I'm fine Ed. I'm surprised this suit of armor withstood such a blow."
Glancing at the armor's chest, Ed meekly said "Al, it took a thrashing still. There is a heavy dent in it, and the cloth that was on the front is gone. Plus, there are several scratches on it."
Heavily sighing, Al grumbled out "Damn it, I just polished this thing!"
Turning towards Iya, Ed yelled "You bastard, you'll pay for messing up my brother's armor!"
Sweat dropping, Iya mumbled "They're more worried about that suit of armor than fighting me…"
Charging Iya quickly, Ed swung his sword at Iya, who parried with Ketsaiga. With his attention focused on Ed, Iya barely caught sight of the suit of armor charging him from behind. Grunting indignantly, Iya slammed his full weight into Ketsaiga, surprising Ed and pushing him backwards till Iya spun him around so that he was facing the armor, which happened just as the suit was about to punch where Iya had stood.
In shock, the suit stopped it's fist just an inch away from Ed. "Brother, sorry." Al's metal tang voice said.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ed muttered "It's alright Al. Neither of us knew he would do that."
Eyeing both brothers, Iya pondered on a strategy. "To beat those two, I'll have to figure out a way to separate them. If I can separate them, I'll be able to take the one down and then the other won't be as much trouble. Still, to beat them, I need to figure out how to separate them. Good thing I have just the right technique to do it with."
Drawing Ketsaiga to his right side, Iya felt the sword pulsate while ice suddenly coated it's blade and frosty air leaked off of it. Swinging the ice shard laden sword hard to his left, Iya cried out "Shard Storm!"
Flying through the air instantly was a series of ice shards. Seeing the shards coming, the suit of armor took up a defense position before Ed. Numerous shards struck the armor, with most tearing through the armor.
Watching the armor fall to the ground, Ed's eyes widened while he screamed "AL!"
Kneeling by the suit, Ed shook it gently, saying "Alphonse, speak to me!"
"I'm alright brother…" Al's voice weakly replied. "The ice tore through the armor though, so I'm going to have to get out."
Slowly sitting up, the armor clasped it's hands and touched it's chest. A beam of light blue light came out of the back of the suit as Al slowly slid out. Finally out, he let out a heavy sigh while surveying the armor.
"He ruined it…" he muttered in a low grunt.
Placing a hand on Al's shoulder, Ed warmly said "Don't worry, we'll fix it."
Returning their gaze to Iya, who only waited patiently with Ketsaiga in his hands, Al clenched his fists tightly. "You'll pay for breaking my suit of armor." he dangerously declared with fire flashing in his eyes.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ed asked with a smirk to Al.
Nodding in reply, Al commented "Yeah, I am. Let's finish this."
Clasping their hands together simultaneously both slammed their open palms to the ground, each screaming out "Summoning spell: Clay Soldiers!"
Feeling the ground quake, Iya glanced around nervously for any signs of an attack, but didn't have to wait long. With no warning, a large number of clay soldiers, all looking similar with swords and shields in their hands, shot out of the ground. Taking to the air, Iya leapt up high and glanced down while their numbers continued to rise.
"Damn, what the hell are those things!? There are so many!" Iya screamed in his mind while slowly starting to descend towards the ground a little ways away from the clay soldiers.
Hitting the ground, Iya warily eyed the numerous clay soldiers. Sniffing the air and swiveling his ears, he found that the scent of Ed and Al was a bit distorted. "Where are they?" he pondered in his mind while scanning the landscape.
Without warning, the soldiers began marching forward, moving quicker than Iya thought was possible for the large chunks of clay. Readying Ketsaiga, he lashed out at the first soldier to reach him. The two swords struck one another, with Iya holding the clay soldier's sword away from himself. Noting more clay soldiers were advancing, Iya quickly backed away from the soldier he had engaged with and glared at the horde approaching him.
"So boys, you want to play, eh?" Iya mockingly asked. "Then let's do this!"
Rushing forward, Iya quickly struck one of the soldiers in the stomach with Ketsaiga, causing the soldier to crumble. More soldiers advanced on him, forcing him to parry their attacks while dodging many others.
Amongst the fighting, Iya suddenly saw Ed in the ranks of the clay soldiers racing towards him. He had no time to attempt to parry, for the young lion demon was upon him instantly and slashed out at Iya. All Iya could do was at the last moment back away slightly, forcing Ed to only place a gash on Iya's shoulder.
"Damn it!" Iya hissed as pain flared up his arm. Glancing around, he lost sight of the lion demon.
He quickly returned his attention to the clay soldiers, which continued to attack him, making Iya parry their attacks constantly while slashing out at a few, destroying one or two slowly. Swiveling his ears, Iya caught the sound of Ed's feet pounding the ground hard and approaching him fast again. Unable to figure out the lion demon's position, Iya leapt into the air, hoping to find safety. Instead, he found the lion demon mid-air with him.
"There is no escaping us here!" Ed declared while slashing out at Iya.
With only a fraction of a second, Iya twisted his body around to where he would take the wound on his already wounded right shoulder. Taking the blade into it, Iya clenched his teeth from the pain he felt, but soon felt the blade leave his body.
Falling to the ground, Iya quickly parried the attacks of the clay soldiers. Without warning, a soldier managed to hit Ketsaiga with a heavy blow, knocking the halberd out of Iya's hand and into the air. The large sword soon slammed into the ground about thirty feet away, with Iya no way to reach it without going through the clay soldier army.
Crackling his claws, Iya icily said "Very well then, have it that way."
Brining his two fingers together, he shot his hand forward, creating a blue energy laser whip. The whip easily slashed through several of the clay soldiers before returning to Iya's fingers. Forming his whip once more, Iya flicked it directly at another slew of clay soldiers, but noted that their numbers never seemed to decline.
"What the hell is going on!? I've been cutting their numbers down slowly, but they're still so many! Is Al possibly creating more while Ed continues to sneak attack me and while the soldiers bash me? If that's the case, I could be in trouble."
Suddenly, he heard footsteps and turned, but it was too late. Ed buried his sword into Iya's chest, narrowly missing his heart.
With a cold smirk, the lion mage said "Checkmate half breed. You lose."
Coughing weakly while a small spatter of blood came out, Iya pushed Ed away, which effectively removed the blade that had entered his body. Blood poured out from the wound while Iya crumpled to the ground on his feet.
Spitting blood out, Iya glared hard at the ground while he felt his inner demon stirring, roaring to be let loose. "No, can't lose control, not now." he meekly declared.
Feeling his inner demon struggling even more while he stood, Iya reached up and wiped the blood away from his mouth with the backside of his right hand. Gazing at the lion demon standing before him, Iya clenched his jaw and glared at the demon.
"Damn it, without Ketsaiga, I'm in danger of losing control. It's so far away. I need to get it, and fast!"
Thoughts being broken, Iya saw Ed charging him with his sword ready to strike. At the last moment, Iya dodged and leapt high into the air. He soon came crashing down a few feet away from Ketsaiga and ran to the sword. It was still transformed in it's halberd state and awaiting him.
His inner demon once more roared to be freed, but Iya pushed it back while taking hold of the sword's hilt. Holding the sword, he felt his body pulsate, while the sword did the same thing.
"What is this? Ketsaiga has never done that before. What is this feeling, that there is something more to me now?" he questioned.
Feeling the sword pulsate once more and his body respond to the pulsation, he could feel his inner demon stirring again. Clutching the hilt tightly, Iya pulled the sword out of the ground and examined it.
Staring at the blade, he pondered what was happening once more when a new urge came over him. "I need to sheath Ketsaiga? Why? Why is my mind telling me to sheath it? I need it to win!"
Again, his body pulsated and his inner demon roared out in the back of his mind, but the roaring seemed to be telling him to sheath the sword. Feeling the pulsation again, he finally sheathed the sword. Upon doing so, a feeling began rising up in him, one he had never felt before.
"Why does it feel like I can push my powers further than before? What is this power I can sense within me? It's like Ketsaiga is telling me to use it, to give into it."
"Giving up, eh?" Ed's voice called out, snapping Iya back into the world.
Not answering, Iya lowered his eyes below his bangs. "As is, I don't stand a chance at beating him and his brother, let alone their clay soldiers. Whatever it is that I'm feeling Ketsaiga and my inner demon want me to grasp for, I have to assume it's stronger than I am now. I have to take this chance, else I'll lose and fail to complete my task. I cannot fail!"
Reaching into his mind, he felt the power that Ketsaiga was pushing him towards, along with his inner demon. Finding it at last, he felt his body pulsate once more.
"So, you're going to just stand there and die?" Ed taunted while glaring at the half demon. "How pathetic."
Slowly raising his head, Iya glared at the young lion demon, who gasped in shock. "Your eyes…" the blond haired mage slowly muttered. "What is happening to you!? Why did your eyes change colors?"
Feeling his body pulsate once more, Iya lowly growled. He could feel his body responding to the power he was grasping and bringing out ever so slowly.
Regaining his wits, Ed yelled out "Al, we have to finish him now!"
The clay soldiers instantly responded and rushed forward with Ed leading the way. With their approach nearing Iya, a sudden gust of wind blew up, making Ed stop his movement.
Clenching his hands tightly, Iya lowly growled while demonic wind blew around his body. His body was still pulsating, seemingly accepting his new power. Without warning, he felt his bones starting to creak.
Letting out a small roar, Iya leapt high into the air. A cloud of white smoke instantly engulfed his body, making him vanish completely from sight.
"What the hell is he doing!?" Ed questioned aloud.
A moment passed before the cloud slowly dissipated. Coming out of the cloud was a large black dog with sharp fangs in it's mouth, sharp clawed paws, dense black fur, and had red irises with dark green eyes. Letting out a roar, icy air came out of the dog's mouth while it still floated mid-air.
Staring at the large dog with wide eyes, Ed slowly said "It can't be… He shouldn't be able to transform into a true dog form!"
Running up beside of Ed, Al stared at the dog and asked "How can he do that brother? No half breed should be able to transform into a true demon form!"
"I don't know how he did it Al, but we're going to make sure he never does it again, ever!" Ed declared fiercely. "Ready the soldiers!"
"Right!"
Glaring down at the ground where the soldiers were amassing in front of the two lion demon brothers, Iya roared loudly and quickly began descending to the ground. Hitting the ground with a heavy thud, Iya swiped his paw across the line of soldiers, destroying all of them in his way. Many soldiers backed up a bit and prepared to attack with their swords, but Iya slammed his paw into the ground where some stood, sending out shockwaves and knocking the soldiers over.
Howling loudly, Iya threw back his head and flung it back down to take aim at the two brothers and the remainder of their soldiers as they surrounded them. A stream of icy breath went forward, striking all of the soldiers and the two brothers together in one stroke. The two brothers looked around and quickly saw the soldiers before them turned to ice. Soon enough, the two brothers were turned as well.
Raising his paw up, Iya slammed it heavily into the two forms of the lion demons, crushing them instantly and turning them into pieces of ice. Seeing his enemies crushed, Iya let out a loud howl and smashed the last of clay soldiers. With them all gone, he looked around at his surroundings and walked to the nearby stream. Lapping up some water, he walked back to where he had transformed and glanced down, seeing his clothes were on the ground.
Standing there, he let out an indignant grunt and began glowing with a white light. A moment later, the dog turned into a sphere of white energy, which touched down onto the ground a few seconds later. The sphere dissolved, revealing a nude Iya, who was clutching Ketsaiga in his right hand.
Panting lightly, he glanced around and picked up his clothing and quickly dressed. At last done, he surveyed the damage and let out a sigh.
"So, that's what you were showing me, eh Ketsaiga?" Iya asked the sword at his hip.
Softly smiling, he weakly said "You were showing me I could go beyond what I was, and transform into a true dog demon. I see now that father's training may have been to prepare me for that step, just in case it would happen."
Feeling his chest, he noted that his wounds were healed and slightly chuckled. "I guess transforming has some advantages, but still hurts like hell. I don't think I'll do that very often."
--
"My fight with Ed and Al left me with the ability to transform into my true dog form, which as you've seen already, is rather powerful." Iya commented upon finishing his tale of the two mages. "In that form, I learned I could fly, plus my strength increases. Of course, I do sacrifice a little bit of speed, but not much. Just a bit."
Softly smiling, Lilly softly said "So, that's how you learned to transform into your true dog form."
"Yeah, and it's lucky I did." Iya commented with a sly smile. "Fighting those two brothers was hard, and I nearly lost control of demonic nature. Luckily though, Ketsaiga showed me another path, and I haven't looked back since."
Speaking up, Inuyasha calmly said "You took out three mages in one-hundred-seventy-five years time. What about the other three?"
Lightly chuckling, Iya replied "I'm getting to them. Anyways, fifty-five years later, I met Ichigo. By then, I was two-hundred-eighty years old, and had been trailing the mages for two-hundred-thirty years. We teamed up together and trailed the mages for another fifteen years, till finally, luck was on our side. Three of them decided to face us. These three were stronger than the previous three I had faced alone, and would truly test me and Ichigo."
--
Running through a forest, Iya, flanked with Ichigo beside of himself, ran quickly onward while glancing ahead to see nothing but forest before them.
"Damn it, where the hell could they have gotten to?!" Ichigo irritably questioned.
Sighing, Iya calmly replied "Calm yourself, Ichigo. We'll find them again. It's not like they can run forever. Besides, if we lose them, we can just go get help in finding them once more."
Clenching his right hand tightly, Ichigo roughly bit out "I don't want to hunt these bastards forever."
Chuckling at his companion's candor, Iya glanced ahead and sniffed the air. Finding no scents in the air, he swiveled his ears and extended his senses to search for demonic auras and any kind of signs of the mages. Not picking any up, his brow furrowed, but continued running.
Sensing something amiss, Iya glanced up in the air. "What is this feeling? It's like the air pressure is changing, but that shouldn't be happening. There are no signs of a storm in the area, so the air pressure shouldn't change."
Eyes widening suddenly at coming to a conclusion to what was happening, he jumped over into Ichigo, throwing the pair off to the side just as a bolt of lightning struck the spot where they would have been running at.
Tumbling to the ground, the two quickly rolled around to their feet. Glancing at where the bolt of lightning had struck, Ichigo and Iya cast their eyes around the area and found their attacker easily enough.
Standing in a tree, a woman with grayish-purple hair held up in a ponytail that stuck up, gray eyes, a coy smile, and wore a set of black robes stood looking down at the pair.
In a soft purr, she said "Ah, too bad, I missed the two of you. I was certain I wouldn't miss. How'd you know it was coming?"
"The air pressure changed." Iya retorted in a clipped tone. "Since I have ice powers, I'm able to sense how the air feels, and I sensed just a moment before you struck a shift in the air pressure."
"Well, you're no fun then. I guess I should have known you could do that." the woman replied with a pout.
Throwing a glance over at Ichigo, Iya saw the anger and fire was spewing from his partner's eyes. "Ichigo, please don't lose that temper of yours. I need you to stay with me if we must fight this mage."
Sniffing the air, Iya found no other scents in the area, no could smell the woman before him. Realizing someone could be downwind of him behind the pair, he reached out with his senses once more, looking for anything that could prove that someone was near them.
"That's strange... I can sense a bit of a cold front behind us, and a very low demonic aura. I'm guessing the demon with the aura is hiding their own, while the cold front I'm sensing could be nothing, or it could be another mage. Only one way to find out."
Reaching out and taking hold of Ketsaiga's hilt, Iya drew the sword, sparking it's transformation instantly. The woman in the tree watched him carefully, seemingly mesmerized by his movements.
Drawing the sword to his right side, Iya called forth Ketsaiga's second transformation, causing ice to cover the blade while wisps of icy steam came up off of the blade. Ice quickly covered the blade and began to glow with a light blue demonic aura.
Spinning around quickly, Iya swung the mighty sword, screaming out "Shard Storm!"
Hundreds of small ice shards went flying into the forest in the opposite direction of the female mage. Trees were sliced through easily by the shards, leaving many holes through them and sending some crashing to the ground. In the commotion, two figures leapt into the air to avoid the ice shards, revealing their presence.
Hitting the ground, the pair landed twenty feet away from Iya and Ichigo. The first was a short young man who had white hair that was combed back and had emerald green eyes, and wore a set of black robes with a blue handled hilt sticking out of the back of his robes. The second was a young woman with long pink hair that was held into two ponytails that trailed down to her butt, with her bangs pulled back to reveal her forehead, and she had emerald eyes as well. Her clothing was simply a set of black robes with black gloves on her hands.
"So, you found us." the white haired young man spoke up with a small smirk.
Reversing Ketsaiga's icy transformation to it's metal blade form, Iya nonchalantly replied "It wasn't too hard. Much like your friend here, I could sense the air pressure difference, thus I concluded someone else was behind us."
Motioning towards the pink haired young woman, Iya added "As for sensing her, I was able to pick up on her demonic aura. It was faint, but just barely visible to me."
"I see. I suppose I'll have to work on that." the young pink haired woman commented.
Moving so that they were back to back, Iya and Ichigo stared over the three mages. "I must admit, I'm surprised to see the three of you." Iya casually said. "I didn't expect your leader to send the three of you. I'm amazed and flattered at the same time."
"Flattery will not save you from us this time, Iya Taisho." the young man icily declared.
Slightly chuckling, Iya calmly retorted "I'm not worried. After all, facing off with three of the most gifted mages is not a surprise. I assumed one day I would have to face off with you three, but I never imagined that all three of you would come at once."
"Just be lucky that we are the ones to come to end your life." the grayish-purple haired woman commented.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Iya responded calmly with "I suppose, but our lives will not be ending here today, Mage Anko."
Hearing the sound of the purple haired mage gasp in shock, Iya half turned and cast a glance at her, saying "Yes, I know who you are Mage Anko Mitarashi, the mage who is a thunder demon and controls lightning."
Throwing a glance back towards the other two, Iya added "And I know of you two also, Mage Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Mage Sakura Haruno. Mage Tōshirō, you are an ice demon and control ice, while Mage Sakura, you are an earth elemental demon, but your specialties are blended. You have power of earth, but are also a healing mage. You were trained personally by Mage Tsunade."
The three mages instantly gasped in shock at the info Iya had spouted off, but Tōshirō quickly recovered and smirked. "So, you've been studying up on us, eh?" he questioned.
"But of course." Iya nonchalantly replied with a nod. "To track you all, I had to learn more about each of you. I've learned enough to know what you look like and what type of half demons you prefer, and what type of demons you are. I must admit, seeing the three of you here must mean your master has decided I'm a true threat."
Scoffing, Anko remarked "Not quite. The only reason we're here to kill you off is due that you're becoming a real annoyance. I'll give you credit, you killed off that idiot Kenpachi, and then surprised us all by taking out Ed and Al, but your luck has run out against the three of us."
Eyeing Ichigo, Anko slyly smirked and added "Ah yes, and you, little bobcat, we have no real interest in you. You're no threat, to anyone in all reality."
"Why you…" Ichigo growled out while drawing his halberd.
"Temper, temper." Anko smartly commented while wagging a finger.
Beginning to lurch forward, Ichigo suddenly felt Iya grab hold of his kimono top, stopping him from launching himself at the female thunder demon. In a low whisper, Iya said "Ichigo, calm yourself. I need to ask you something."
Whispering back, he asked "What?"
"Can you handle Anko alone?"
"You doubt my strength now?" Ichigo irritably asked.
Lightly chuckling, Iya softly replied "No, but I need to know. If you can take her on, I should be able to take care of Tōshirō. That just leaves Sakura, who is an earth mage, but also a healing mage. I'm assuming she'll probably stay back from the battle and wait for an opening to help the others."
Thinking for a moment, Ichigo finally responded with "I can handle Anko. Just leave her to me."
"Alright, and I'll handle Tōshirō and possibly Sakura. If she goes after you, I'll try and stop her." Iya remarked.
"Right. Good luck."
"Same to you."
Returning their full attention to their opponents, Ichigo leapt forward at lightning fast speed at Anko, who quickly leapt from her perch and retreated a short distance. She quickly removed her robe, revealing her clothing. She had on a pale yellow trench coat that fell to her knees in length, fishnet that went from her shoulders to right above her knees, a brown skirt with a pouch attached on her backside, grey shin guards, and sandals.
Drawing a kunai knife from her pouch, she smirked and said "This is gonna be fun."