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Chapter 4

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That evening, Miyuki travelled to the address Mephisto gave her. When she arrived, she couldn't help but gawk at the terrible state of the building. It was probably going to be another dormitory or something, which would explain why there were so many floors. That, unfortunately, meant she had much more ground to cover.

Some parts of the rustic building weren't finished, so there were exposed support beams, unpainted areas and even a giant hole in the side of the roof. The ceiling was bent and she couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until the entire thing came crashing down on top of her. She hadn't even gone inside and she regretted accepting the invitation.

Sighing, she walked to the neglected door. She put her ear up to it, listening around for the distinct sound of a hissing Basilisk. She knew she had to take down the King to get the rest of them to leave, so the biggest one would be her hopeless target. Based on what she could hear, there were about twelve snake monsters in the first room.

Smirking, she backed a few feet away from the door. With one swift kick, she got it open. It squeaked loudly as she pushed her way through and walked into the decrepit building. She nearly gagged from the stench but held back the urge to vomit when she noticed that all the Basilisk's had slithered off. Frowning, she stood in the middle of the large room and folded her arms over her chest.

"We're hiding now, are we? I must confess that I don't care much for Hide and Seek..." she confessed rather loudly, voice bouncing off the mouldy walls. After a few seconds of silence, she spun around. She accumulated the moisture from the air around her finger and solidified it into ice. Then, the ice sharpened into a fine point around her fingers.

As a Basilisk lunger towards, she sliced it with her ice claw. It toppled to the ground with a thunk. The wound spread ice to the rest of its snake-like body and immobilized it. It was still alive until Miyuki stomped on its head with satisfaction and a smile. Just as she defeated one, half a dozen more slithered out of their hiding places. Miyuki was outnumbered but her smile only grew.

Dropping low to the ground, she placed her hand on the cracked concrete and iced over the entire length of the floor. Three Basilisk got caught in the blast and froze to the ground. Miyuki slipped past them and to their brethren who still dared to charge at her. She made sure not to look them in the eyes as she cut them down.

After all six of her attackers were nothing but popsicles, she went around and finished them off with a quick stomp to the face. It was somewhat soothing and therapeutic...

As expected, more snakes slithered out to face her. She shook her hand, shaking off the excess blood which once decorated her ice claws. Her sadistic grin had yet to fade or even falter. As she indirectly eyed four more Basilisk, she decided to try something new.

She proceeded to make more ice. Once she had enough, she held her hand out and made the sharp icicles levitate around her. They pointed at the snakes before flying towards them. All of her shots connected, leaving four dead snakes at her feet.

She let out a curt laugh, "C'est la vie."

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An hour.

A full hour of killing those godforsaken snakes and she was no closer to the King.

She had defeated almost thirty of the little heathens and was already starting to sweat. Her powers were rusty from going unused for so long. This just further proved her theory that her powers had weakened during her short time in Assiah. It was infuriating, to say the least.

"Where the hell is your King?!" she shouted as she sent a large blast of ice in the direction of about ten Basilisk. When she hit the snake-like beasts, she also encased the entire wall behind them in ice and frost. Her shoulders rose and fell as she huffed manically.

"Someone's in here."

Miyuki's ear twitched. She could barely pick up the two echoing voices that rang throughout the halls. She furrowed her eyebrows and clenched her fists. Why was someone else in the building? Mephisto told her it was empty. Unless...

"I'll give you a way to get close to the boy..."

"Great," she hissed in a hushed tone, taking out her anger on the last Basilisk in the room. At this point, she was practically growling at anything in her way.

"Why is there ice? I thought he said it was just a few Basilisk?" Okumura Yukio thought aloud. Miyuki dug her bloodied nails into her palms as she mentally spat every swear word in the book. Mephisto was going to get an earful when she got back, that's for sure.

She sighed, "I guess if I have guests in my playground...I should be able to play with them, right?" Crystalizing the blood on her until it simply fell off, she exerted a cold pressure. The lowered temperature also helped her calm down.

Elsewhere in the building, Rin and Yukio Okumura wandered around. After noticing the sudden cold that surrounded them, they wondered if Mephisto was truthful when he said there were only a couple of Basilisk in the building. Rin shuddered as an icy chill ran down his spine.

"Yukio, look," he pointed to a dead Basilisk. It was frozen over and its head was squashed.

"There's something else in here," Yukio paused to stare at the snake. Rin frowned, poking it with the hilt of his sword.

"What do we do?" he asked. Before his brother could answer, a breathy giggle echoed through the room. The boys stopped dead in their tracks. A cold sweat fell off both of their faces, despite the freezing air around them.

"W-What the hell? Is it a ghost or something?" Rin wondered aloud, breath turning to fog as it left his mouth. Yukio shook his head in response.

"Ghosts shouldn't be able to do damage. Whatever it is, it seems to have gotten to the Basilisk first," he explained with a grim and serious look on his face. Rin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

The laugh sounded like it came from the hallway to their right. That same hallway was also very dark, making it nearly impossible to see down. They'd have to walk down it.

"Y-You first," Rin nudged his brother. Yukio shot him a look before sighing. As he went to step towards the hallway, he felt all the hairs on his neck stand straight up. Someone was definitely watching him...but who? He slowly crept down the hall, Rin following right at his heels.

"Ara ara~! How cute."

Both brothers whip around to face the space behind them. No one was there. It was still dark despite the daylight which should be coming through the windows. Ice was covering the glass and any other way for light to get in. Someone wanted it dark.

"Yukio, I'm starting to flip the freak out! What was that?!" Rin shouted. Yukio furrowed his eyebrows before pulling out his sidearm. He loaded it with holy-water-filled bullets and kept it pointed down the hallway.

"It's useless," the ghost-like voice rang through the hall again. The brothers took one hesitant step before having to stop. A powerful gust of wind blew by. Rin was almost blown away and Yukio, amidst his struggle to stay standing, dropped his gun. It got caught in the wind and carried to God-knows-where. They were getting tired of this game.

"Who are you? What do you want?" the eldest Okumura snapped. The voice giggled before going silent. Yukio waited for something to happen but nothing did. He furrowed his eyebrows before turning back to his brother. "Keep an eye out. We don't know what-" he froze. Literally. Ice encased his feet and crawled up his legs at an exceedingly fast rate. Rin was experiencing the same thing, leaving half of his body coated in the cold substance.

"Rin, do something!" Yukio shouted. Rin looked oblivious to the very clear solution laid out in front of him. He widened his eyes a bit.

"What do you want me to do?!" he spat. His brother grit his teeth and almost seemed to growl at him.

"Your flames! Melt the ice!" he hissed. Rin paused.

"Oh," he blinked with a vacant expression plastered on his face.

With that, the ice was quickly melted away by vibrant blue hell-flames. The heat of the fire forced the ice to melt back into a liquid state and wet the boys' clothes. The fact that the temperature didn't change by even one degree didn't help either. A miffed huff of air came from down the hall.

"That's cheating, you know. You guys are no fun."

The voice was closer now. Right behind them, even. The sound of shoes tapping against the floor grew near. Another ghostly giggle rang through the hall, prompting the two boys to spin around and face whoever had been frightening them.

"I didn't even get to scare you properly."

"M-Miyuki?!" they shouted in unison.

"Charmed," Miyuki feigned a smile. She instantly dropped the facade. "You ruined my game with your powers. Thanks a lot, Rin."

"Uh...I'm sorry?" the boy's face twisted in confusion. Miyuki scoffed before flicking her hand. The ice covering the walls retreated into the ground. Rin jumped at her display. "How did you...?"

"If it's not already obvious enough," she rolled her eyes, "I'm a demon." As she got closer to Yukio, she leaned towards his face with a menacing smile. He bent back to avoid contact but didn't realize that she was reaching into her pocket pulled out the gun he dropped mere moments ago. "Well...Half demon." She twirled it around in her hands for a moment before closing her left eye and aiming it right at the exorcist's face. He didn't even flinch.

"H-Hey! Watch it!" Rin nearly jumped out of his skin. Miyuki scoffed before haphazardly tossing the gun onto the ground.

"Calm down, kid. It's empty," the corner of her mouth twitched upwards at the boy's reaction.

"You're a half-breed?" the eldest Okumura raised an eyebrow. Miyuki leaned forward so his serious face was mere inches from hers.

"Bingo," she booped his nose. The Ice Queen left out a curt laugh while Yukio knit his eyebrows together in aggravation.

"Wait...Did you freeze all those snakes?" Rin asked while she straightened herself up. Miyuki shrugged as she put her hands in her pockets and spun around on her heels.

"Yeah, those little lizards were easy. Still trying to find the King, though, so if you'll excuse me..." She began to walk towards the opposite end of the hallway, pushing past the brothers. Rin, still a little shocked from the discovery of having another demon in his class, stared at her.

"Do you...uh...want any help?" he asked sheepishly. Miyuki stopped for a moment. She didn't even bother looking at him while she took a few seconds to think the offer through. After doing so, the Yuki-Onna shook her head and crossed her arms.

"I don't care what you do as long as you stay out of my way." The brothers gave each other sceptical looks, both of them thinking the same thing.

What is up with this girl…?

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One Giant Snake Fight Later...

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"That was the Basilisk King? I figured he'd be easier to fight..." Rin complained as he nonchalantly walked out of the abandoned building, Miyuki and Yukio reluctantly following behind. The two of them simply rolled their eyes.

"What I don't understand is why Mephisto sent the three of us here instead of just asking me to take the entire class," Yukio mumbled to himself, receiving an elbow to the gut by Miyuki.

"Quit overthinking. Rin and I are demons. He plans on forcing some sort of companionship onto us or something," she pointed out blatantly.

Rin turned to her, an ear-to-ear grin stupidly plastered on his face. "That sounds cool!" He stopped walking until he was standing next to the noirette who chose to ignore him.

"I never said that was my plan. It's a stupid one if you ask me. Friends are unimportant. All I need are my powers and I'll be fine."

"Ouch...How can you think like that?"

"How exactly do your powers work, Miyuki?" Yuki changed the subject with a raised eyebrow. Miyuki sighed, holding her hand out in front of her.

Turning her hand towards the sky above them, she motioned for the brothers to look down. Small droplets of water formed in her palm. They swirled around until they became a singularity. Then, as slowly as she could, she cooled the water until it froze.

"I pull the moisture from the air and collect it in my palm. It forms a small mass and the natural coolant system in my body causes the temperature of the water to lower until it freezes. Once the water is turned to ice, I can make it take any shape I want," she explained.

"So you're a human icebox?" Rin asked in all seriousness. Miyuki stopped walking. Her eyes narrowed grimly as the ice she was accumulating suddenly sharpened into dozens of needles, all of them aimed at Rin. His face turned a ghostly shade of pale and he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat.

"Keep talking and I'll sever every tendon in your body."

"That's fair."

Yukio cleared his throat, signalling for the two to shut up and keep moving. With a sigh, Miyuki let her ice needles clatter onto the ground. She shoved her hands into her pockets and walked right past Rin. She had always wanted to go to Assiah but now that she's here all she wants to do is go back home. This mission should be a walk in the metaphorical park.

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Elsewhere...

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The quiet tapping of shoes against pavement was the only sound that disturbed the silent night. A brunette with a duffel bag wandered through a dark alley until she passed a sketchy-looking man with a fedora.

"Do you have the money?" he raised an eyebrow.

"It's in the bag. I expect to be paid this time, Stephan. Imp horns are hard to come by," the girl dropped her duffel right in front of his feet. The man chuckled.

"Thank you, dear," he grinned. The brunette crossed her arms, raising her eyebrow expectantly. Her confident smirk caused his eyes to sparkle with interest. "Now, what you want with demon hunting equipment is none of my business but I must keep up my end of the deal."

"My personal vendetta's are none of your concern. Keep your nose out of my business," she hissed. The fedora-wearing man simply laughed.

"Then let's get to it."