Chapter One
The sound of angry wind was only heard accompanied by wheezes and groans of pain. In the grounds of Saint Academy, a commotion is happening and being watched by a lot of people forming a tight circle. Some gasped as they watched every men getting beaten up by a single person. A man who has a bad reputation from the very start of his stay in the school.
With gravity-defying brown hair that has ends that sticks everywhere, and caramel eyes, Tsunayoshi Sawada kicked his last opponent before removing the blood that tickled down to his chin. With black shirt underneath his upper black uniform, black pants and rubbershoes, he was known to be the most dangerous delinquent in the school. He gets into fight almost everyday, yet never got expelled nor had any detention. No punishments were ordered nor any sermons on him. He was untouched despite his violent disposition and no-name family name.
"What happened here?!" A manly voice asked, a little loud because of the silence.
Tsuna took his bag from the ground and patted it as the crowd dispersed.
"Sawada." Nezu, a teacher in demonology, called.
The brunet looked at him from the corner of his eyes and nodded as he shouldered his bag. "Just tell Hibari to dispatch his subordinates to put them to infirmary."
"What is the reason this time?" The teacher asked in exasperation.
"Bullying with their demons." Tsuna almost sighed. "Stupid power hungry summoner."
"What did you do to their contracts?"
"I cut it." The teen shrugged as he started to walk away. "Not that they'll last long anyway. One way or another, those demons will devour them for being too conshitted."
Nezu Douhachiro only sighed at the troublesome student. And Tsuna who heard it didn't really gave a damn. In Saint Academy, he was known as the Demon, but outside of those walls, he's just Tsuna. The man who loves to watch and help his mother cook, cloud watching with his father, read with his grandfather and befriend demons who are literally harmless.
Saint Academy is a prestige school for exorcists, demon summoners and hunters alike. They teach every kind of subject that a student need to become one of those three occupation. From drawing runes, sealings and stuffs. It is well known all over the world, so it won't be a surprise if it has different cultures living in the dormitory of the academy. It is in the center of the world.
The academy is inside a barrier and a wall. It has a white castle. A castle that is big enough for million students. It has many floors that consists of many rooms, hallways and stairs. It has four towers that are used as a transportation to the world of demons, the Fiant. The facilities are up-to-date from books to equipment used to kill demons like knives, guns, etc. But despite the renovation every decade, the castle still gives the ancient feeling that something magical and amazing is happening.
Surrounding the school is a thick forest that must not be entered. This area is contaminated by many demons from different levels and affinities. They've been there for centuries and known to be very hostile to humans. The only thing that kept them from entering the school is the strong barrier that encages it for protection.
But that doesn't mean they're safe from the wrath of their fellow beings.
Inside the castle, a certain delinquent strode in the hallway and went inside a classroom.
"Hana-chan!" Tsuna called with so much enthusiasm.
A woman, with neck-length black hair, narrowed dark brown eyes and wearing the schools girls uniform that is a white uniform, knee-length black skirt and black shoes, glared at the brunet. She is Hana Kurokawa, one of the most talented demon contractor. Known to be very harsh to any stupid people, especially on the men population. The only person she doesn't lash out at is Tsuna and some respectable teachers.
"What?!"
"You did the assignment?" Tsuna asked, not even affected by the glare, as he sat on her table and rummaged on his bag. "It was pretty hard."
The lady snorted. "You're losing your touch, Sawada."
"Aw. Don't be like that. Help me? I really answered it but I don't know if they're the right ones." Tsuna pouted.
"Fine." Hana sighed, resulting to a small victory dance from her company.
Hana knew something was different when nineteen years old Tsuna entered the classroom two years ago. It's not because of the improper way he wore the school uniform, nor the way he gave an unapproachable aura. It was the bruises and cuts he has in his face. To her, he looks weak and terribly thin. But that doesn't mean he can't throw a mean punch.
He was a fighter. When others can't stop the bullying, he did it every single time. Be it a human that were bullied or demons that are aggravated. He doesn't care what people perceived about him. He doesn't care about grades, the punishments, the reprimands. He was just there out of his will, so he was only attentive to interesting subjects. He was known to be the most dangerous student, but to Hana, Tsuna is just Tsuna. Goofy, approachable, a smiling retarded brunet who loves to call her 'Hana-chan' since a year ago.
How so? She was having a hard time that day. Stressed out by many requirements and by stupid people. Tsuna was the only one who invited her to eat and offered help like being her book or bag carrier as she finishes her requirements. He even saved her when one of the girls around their age got feed up with her beautiful grades. Who knew Tsunayoshi Sawada has a sharp and sarcastic tongue? Yes, he is a gentleman, but that doesn't mean he won't kill a butterfly if it's pestering anyone.
"Oh! Got it!" Tsuna cheered. "Thank you, Hana-chan."
"Yeah yeah. So any plans for tomorrow?" Hana asked.
"Ah. The trip to demon world? I'll try to oversleep."
Hana rolled her eyes. "Nezu-sensei will give you an earful."
"Nothing new." Tsuna waved off.
The following day, Hana laughed so hard when Tsuna arrived with Nezu-sensei. He wasn't even out of his pajama, and yawning every fifteen seconds. As she laughed, the brunet only stared at her in amusement. And the whole class stared at the duo.
Tsuna was known to never come to trips to any world. Even outside world. Being in the 'blasted castle' (Tsuna's words, not hers) is already enough for him. Whenever there is a trip for the past two years (It happens every two weeks), he either overslept, or hid anywhere and come out when dinner is served. Nezu-sensei is the only one who had pulled him out of the habit.
"And you told me you wont!" Hana mocked between laughs.
Tsuna sighed. "I did. But Nezu-sensei had a magical key and opened my dorm door. He even yanked my blanket off just to wake me up. Good thing he gave me three minutes to wash up. Not enough to change into something appropriate though."
"It's because you're going to skip again!" Nezu-sensei reasoned out with a smack on the back of his head. Tsuna gave an 'ow' while rubbing it.
"You put lightning in that!"
"It's good for you, you brat!"
Hana gave a chuckle. "So the crown today belongs to Nezu-sensei. Good job making him come."
"Yeah. Anyway, Kurokawa-"
Tsuna didn't bother himself to listen to the two's chitchat and stared at the big portal in front of him. It's as thin as paper that reaches the ground and the high ceiling of the Blood tower. The portal shows the world they'll go in. A world much like the mundane world and never looked like hell from some books he had read.
Tsuna was always been the curious little thing and he reads just to satiet it. With the books, he knew what's what. He can define things since he loves to store knowledge. He can draw runes for a summoning, barrier and binding. He knew all these and no one taught him.
And one of the things he got curious of is the school's towers. The tower of Blood, Sanity, Life and Age. It might be very common, but to the brunet, it's very fascination. Who knew that these towers represent the sacrifices that were done just for the sake of the world against the demons. The Blood tower represents a sacrifice of a man that his descendants will become the salvation of humankind, demons and the other sacrifices. The Sanity tower holds the victim of power who wished for peace yet destroyed everything. The Life tower holds the offering of a man who gave up his time in the world just to contain its balance. And the Age tower shows a man's surrender of mortality for the sake of overseeing these sacrifices.
For Tsuna, these towers contain the most devastating and saddest stories he can ever imagine. He even cried for hours because of this. He even visited the towers, but he never entered the portals. He wasn't that stupid.
"Okay, class!" Nezu-sensei called out. "Let's go!"
Tsuna watched them go. Even Hana was one of those people who went in. The brunet sighed and followed.
Fiant was more of a humongous forest. It has trees. Lots of trees. Grass, flowers and animals. It's not hell just like how they perceived the world of Demons was that consists of fire, oozing magma, a volcanic eruption. It is like the Mundane world in any sense. This world is divided into four. The Mios, Noerim, Viwox, and Aqion. These factions can be entered through the Sanity, Life, Blood and Age tower, respectively. And they hold a lot of demons from different levels.
Levels of demons ranges from one to ten. One as the lowest and ten for the highest. From one to three level demons can be contracted without their consents. They do not have their own will nor think for their sakes. They follow the higher levels or their contractors. Level four to seven can only be contracted when defeated or with their consents. They have their own wills and know what they want. They can even break their contracts. If you ask nicely, they'll give you a contact. If not, they'll either leave you, kill you or eat you, depends on their moods. From eight to ten level, there is no guarantee. It's very rare to have a contract with them or even sight them. According to the books, no one have ever contracted demons in eight to ten level.
In their appearances, weak demons don't have definite appearance. Some are skull like, most are personification of anything black like the grim ripper without the scythe, frequently are bird-likes with one wing present or two but looks like featherless since it's just bones. They're known to be incomplete and in premature stage. The semi are known to be hybrids. Part human, part animal. There's a lizardman, a merwoman, birdman and such. They are known to be like that since then, but that's what makes them so powerful. The powerful demons have three forms: demon form, animal form and human form. When they reach the eight to ten levels, they can take full human forms and animal forms not hybrids. And as they achieve these levels, their demon form also evolves. They become massive and complete, fully matured and powerful. And they could only grow by eating souls of humans or the flesh of fellow demons, be exposed to a powerful affinity or fight their way up to the ranks. Although demons are deemed powerful, their power is limited in the mundane world for the dimension is different and do not have the same particle that Fiant has. Weak ones can stay for one to two weeks, semi can exist for a month while those higher levels can stay for two months.
There are seven affinities or aura, and much more like the colors of rainbow with different abilities. Red for storm that disintegrates what it touch. A brewing mass of destruction when it has no center or an 'eye'. Blue for rain which slows everything within its perimeter at will. Overdose of this can kill for it stops all functions in the body. Yellow for sun, known to be very destructive but has the power to heal any kind of wounds as long as the wielder is strong enough. Green for lightning that is also known for hardening, it can harden anything and used frequently for barriers. Indigo for mist that can create things such as illusion to real things. And Violet for cloud, which is propagation or multiplication, it can duplicate and replicate something many times at it wants. Then there's the orange for sky, the strongest flame affinity that is very rare, acknowledged to have the ability to harmonize everything, attracts everythings, petrify thing living or not, and turn something into an ice at will, but that varies.
Contract between humans and demons need the same affinity or related. Storm can be contracted with rain, lightning, cloud, and sun. Same with others. Mist can be connected with cloud affinity. The sky is an exception, for it can contract all of them. The contract is two ways, give and take. When the human uses his demon, the demon can feed on his summoner's aura. Other than that, they must trade. Like the summoner wants his demon to carry heavy work loads, and the contractor wants food in return. The summoner can have many contract as long as he can control them and his aura is strong enough to sustain their needs to live in the mundane plane.
The only thing that indicates that a summoner have a contract is when a symbol or a word is visibly tattooed any part of his body. The contact can be broken by due time, death of the contractor (since demons have infinite lives and they can be revived in their respective fractions if they die in the mundane plane or any part of Fiant), and third party. Just like what Tsuna did to those people he beat up.
The other thing that piqued the other's interest on Tsuna was he was declared to have no affinity or colorless. And the latter doesn't care. He just want to finish his studies in the academy and go home. He doesn't have any plan of having a summon. Might as well be just a student without being an exorcist, Demon summoners or a hunter. Learn things for survival, but never use it for a living.
The moment he stepped outside of the portal, Tsuna looked around. It was like a campsite with a big tent. There are so many people that makes him uncomfortable. He never liked crowd. He gets into fights because of them. Knowing his magnetism to trouble, he checked his pockets only to find his wallet and a pen. He frowned. Why pen of all things?
"Okay class! Your mission today is to at least get a contract!" Nezu-sensei instructed. "The time limit is ten hours, just in time for dinner! Now scatter and good luck!"
"Good luck, Sawada." Hana tittered. He only gave her a dismissive wave before groaning.
"Talk about no lunch." Tsuna grumbled under his breathe before going opposite of the others. "I need to find at least a small clearing to sleep my hunger. Who even tried to make a contract with an empty stomach."
Tsuna walked aimlessly. To his delight, he did find a clearing but a big one. Shrugging, he continued to walk, but instead of going in the middle, he strayed near a big oak tree on the side of the forest. He laid on the ground and went cloud watching until he fell asleep. Tsuna knew he's pretty vulnerable when asleep especially in a new environment that is full of demons. But he's so drowsy that he needs to sleep. Not that he'll have any contract anyway.
Morning rolled without any danger on him. He woke up by lunch time. When he was about to stand, he saw three of his seniors approaching him. He shrugged and started to look around to at least get a glimpse of food that can replenish his rumbling stomach. He hasn't eaten breakfast yet.
"Oi Sawada!" Tsuna looked at his caller at the corner of his eyes. "We want a rematch!"
Tsuna gave them a raise of eyebrow. "Since when did we fight?"
"You fucker! You unbounded me to my hybrid!" One of them shouted.
"They have a name, you know." Tsuna dismissed as he looked at the sky, only to see the top of their tent. "Ah! Food!"
"Don't ignore us! I summon thee, Ditro!"
Tsuna spun around just in time for a hand to reach him. He quickly dodged and pick up a leaf. The demon in front of him is a level two, if his assessment is true. Nothing to sweat about in his view. He drew out his pen and started to write something on the leaf as he ran. In a matter of seconds, he was able to write a seal.
'Now. To get a little closer.' He thought as he ran straight towards the demon. 'A little more- Here!' Tsuna threw the leaf in front of the demon.
One of them laughed obnoxiously. "What do you think you're doing-"
"With the power that created the moon, the stars and the sun. You who harm. I restrict you!"
Tsuna jumped out of the way as an electric shield enclosed the level two demon. He approached the shield and knocked on it. Like always, it's steady and strong. The demon screeched at him, he grimaced at that. Closing his eyes, he mumbled to himself.
"Appease to ease. Release the nexus. Untie the wreathe. I order you to unbind."
The Demon, unexpectedly, sobbed and looked at Tsuna with grateful eyes. The said human raised two fingers by the chest and uttered a small 'kai' to release the shield. The creature skittered away. The brunet then looked at his now dumbfounded seniors and smiled dangerously.
"Where were we, again?" He asked. The others paled as the unbounded one cried in loss. Of course the human will feel pain after the loss of his contract. The symbol of the contract will erase itself like a fire eating the flesh. Burnful and spiting.
"You fucking son of a-"
"Restrict, restrict. Untouch the weak. Push the tormentor. Away to relief." Tsuna chanted that human bind three times. And every chant pushes his bullies away from him for three meters. The brunet smirked as he waved at them. "That'll teach you not to mess with me."
The brunet went towards their camp while humming to himself, a little glad for releasing a suffering demon from its contract. He was nearing the site when he felt a small goosebumps on the back of his neck. He skidded to a stop but didn't turn around. He knew there are a lot of eyes looking at him right now. There are some malicious stares but no one dared to step up to assault. He knew he'll die if he was attacked right now. He is one human with no contact or anything. He only has his pen and wallet. Not much for a student like him.
He was about to make a run for it when something landed on his shoulder. His head whipped to see the creature. It was a small raven with beady black eyes staring straight at him. Tsuna cocked his head, the crow did the same thing. It made the student laugh before petting the animal on the head. He suddenly has this nagging feeling that he must not disrespect the creature for it made the eyes of the demons on his back go away.
"Thank you. Would you like some snacks, my friend? I'm on the way to get some."
"That will be nice." The small demon agreed.
"Well, I hope it will show you my sincere gratitude."
"Perhaps."
Tsuna just smiled as he continued to walk. People on the camp stared at him as he walked in the vacinity. He felt the resistance of the barrier, but he deemed the demon on his shoulder is strong enough to endure their entrance. The brunet strode to the snack table and took some food before walking off again, if Nezu-sensei didn't call for him.
"Any luck, Sawada?" The teacher asked.
Tsuna shook his head. "Won't dream of it, Sensei. I am not gonna take on a contract."
The teacher sighed miserably. "Why do you insist on not having one."
"Who knows. Maybe I'm aiming to be a civilian, instead of going for those three occupation." The brunet shrugged.
"You insufferable little brat."
Tsuna gave a cheeky smile. "You love this brat."
"Go before I lock you in a headlock."
"Oh!" Tsuna jogged out. "Scary~"
The young man laughed merrily as he heard the frustrated scream of the teacher. After going on for a mile, he stopped walking not wanting to go back to the clearing. He clicked his tongue as he looked around for a proper spot to rest only to have someone take his wrist and pull him somewhere.
He almost gave a screech if he didn't stop himself out of fright. A tall man is pulling him through the forest. The said man is wearing a black coat, slacks and shoes. Orange collar is seen underneath the coat by the neck. Then there's a fedora hat on top of the man's head, it has an orange band. The body is obviously well built, and the hand gripping his wrist loosely is calloused like it went through hardships. The most frightening part though is the aura of the individual. Dangerous but a little friendly since he is tugging Tsuna at the end of the forest-
Tsuna's jaw slacked at the sight of a beautiful lake. The body of water is surrounded by variety of flowers, the water is clear and reflective. He can even see different colored fishes that he likes to take a picture of. He isn't an artist, but he knew what is beautiful and not.
"Oh man! That's a Tum Iocosa Piscis! Jolly fish that is known to bring good luck to any creature that takes good care of it!" He said excitedly as he pointed out a changing color fish. "This is so amazing."
"Hmm..."
Tsuna blinked at the hum and instinctively stepped back. "Not to agitate you, but are you human?"
The man who has his eyes covered with his hat smirked. "You could say that."
The brunet stared at him before shaking his head. "No. That was rude of me. I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada."
"Reborn."
Tsuna gave a small smile. "Since my little friend flew away out of fright, kindly help me with my meal?"
"Sure."
And Tsuna was mesmerized with the small quirk that graced the other's lips.