Hello. I forgot to mention it in the last chapter, but both this one and the previous were both beta read by IndigoisBlue. Also, demons are exempt from, how do humans say it? The "bro code?"

"Speech"

Thought

"Telepathy"

'Familiar bond'

Astaroth screamed in pain when he felt a bullet impact his host's reproductive organs. Then his little brother slammed the sword into the back of his knees, pushing hard enough to make his knees buckle. He took a step forward to compensate and whipped around with a snarl, gathering a small orb of magic in his finger and sending it at the paladin. Astaroth paused trying to calm down while he turned to his brother.

He felt a flash of surprise at how close his brother was, as well as the sharp but minor pain in his shoulder as the sword pierced through the top layer of skin. Some of the sacred fire shot down the blade and into the minor cut, and he grimaced in discomfort. Astaroth reached up and grabbed his brother's sword.

If I get rid of this, then I don't need to worry about him slowing me down, and I can ignore him while I deal with these irritating exorcists.

With a small pulse of magic he destroyed the sword, only to flinch back at his brother's head unexpectedly rocketing towards his eye.

That's it!

Astaroth reached his arm out too quickly for his half brother to react. Grabbing his face and stepping forward, he hooked his leg behind Rin's knee, and pushed.

"Enough, little brother." He carefully hit Rin's head on the concrete, trying not to break the stone, his best reference to the mana skin, and was pleased with the lack of crunch as he stood up once more to look at the exorcists. "What did you do to him? Even being half human he should not be this weak."

The paladin raised his weapon as the fire dragon landed directly on top of Astaroth. With a roll of his eyes, he simply grabbed the talon and willed the dragon into nothingness, and apathetically noted the fat man screaming. Astaroth ran forward grabbing the paladin by the throat before anyone could react.

"I said," he began, "what did you do to my brother?"

He lifted the paladin up while grabbing the man's remaining arm. Loosening his grip just enough to allow the paladin to speak, while keeping him off the ground in a show of dominance.

The paladin spat blood in his face.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he wheezed sarcastically.

Astaroth's eye twitched, once, twice, fuck it. I'll just ask Samael later.

He carelessly threw the paladin away, preparing his magic to take out the others when he felt a significant spike of magic behind him. He turned in confusion. That wasn't there a moment ago, and I don't recognize the signature-

Astaroth's mind froze on seeing his brother cloaked in sacred fire, holding a new sword wreathed in flames, burning horns of fire curling upward, tail lashing behind him, the spirit dragon rapidly stumbling alongside the prince.

Well, now he looks more like I thought. Rin swung the sword and a thin crescent of sacred fire blazed through the air at a shocking speed. Astaroth grinned.

"You know what? Fine. You really want to play brother, then we will play."

He held out a hand, and pushed a bit of magic out to block the flames, but was shocked when he still felt some heat, even after decaying the spell. The spirit dragon screeched, and he felt a brief flash of fear as his brother leapt in the air sword raised high.

Astaroth raised an arm to block the blade screaming towards his head as he pointed at the dragon, but flinched, missing his shot, because of the unexpected pain as the sword blazed just past his host's skin. As he looked at his brother in confusion he thought he is strong for a human, but he still shouldn't be able to cut-

His thoughts cut off as he was slashed by the dragon's talons, sending him flying back. He felt an itch in the back of his mind, but was distracted from it as Rin rocketed towards him coated in azure flames. He grabbed Rin's shoulder and sword arm, wincing at the sting of the heat, and twisted, using his brother's own speed to redirect him into the ground, but before he could do anything he saw a flash of silvery white before everything went dark. He felt a sharp pressure around his waist as he was bitten and thrown before he could retaliate. He landed facing the dragon, a snarl on his face and focused on his magic, but his arm wouldn't move. In fact, he couldn't move at…all… He focused his magical senses and…there. Right above him, Samael. Then the itch in his mind turned agonizing, and the boy's voice screamed GET OUT OF MY BODY!

Astaroth lost focus on his host, and was wrenched back to Gehenna as the boy forced him out. After blinking a few times, dazed, he sat up with a growl. Samael…what game are you playing this time and why are you endangering our youngest brother?


As Shiratori's body collapsed, covered in sores and burns, along with a handful of cuts, the fog in Rin's mind faded, as the intense presence he hadn't even been aware that he could feel faded. Rin fell to his knees as his flames went out, tail falling limp-wait…tail? As Rin started to turn, all of his magical exhaustion hit him at once. Just as everything was going dark, he saw a clown floating toward his father.


When he woke up he was in a hospital. Turning his head he saw Yukio sleeping, head down on his bed. He frowned, confused, then caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. When he glanced over he froze at the long furry thing that had just stilled in the air. His eyes slowly followed its form, and saw it led to his body. With a shaking hand he reached out and touched it, and felt an electric shock from the base of his spine.

I…have a tail? I HAVE A TAIL! He shot up. His tail lashed wildly and it slapped Yukio, knocking him off the edge of the bed. Rin yowled in pain, tail only lashing faster.

Rin winced as a high pitched, rapid beeping assaulted his hearing, and he registered the strong acrid odor of various cleaning chemicals. The sounds and smell were so intense he couldn't think, then he felt hands on his shoulders shaking him. Without thinking he grabbed an arm and yanked on it, throwing a punch, and felt it collide with something. Suddenly, the arms were gone as there was a crash and the painful beeping stopped, some of the fog in his brain easing.

"What was that for," Yukio yelled from the ruins of some medical equipment with a hand on his nose.

Rin flinched as his ears folded back…wait, that feels weird…

Shaking his head, he replied, "Sorry Yukio, everything feels strange. And my senses are all stronger. I couldn't think over the noise and smell, I didn't realize it was you-"

Before Rin could continue, the door to his hospital room slammed open as a nurse charged in.

"What happened? His heart rate…" the nurse sees Rin standing and the broken machine against the wall. He sighed, "Please don't destroy anything else and get back in bed. I will need to check your vitals and ask a few questions real fast, but since your records state you have warrior magic, the concussion we suspected you had has probably mostly faded by now, so you probably won't need a replacement machine."

Rin sat back on the bed watching the nurse approach, and let him check his heart rate and blood pressure. But when he shined the light in Rins eyes he frowned worriedly. "Actually we might need to get a doctor in here who specializes in exorcists. Your pupils aren't reacting like they should, but even still I don't think it's as severe a case as your father. Stay in bed." The nurse rushes out of the room.

Rin turned to his brother. "What…what did he mean?"

Yukio looks down. "Dad's in really bad shape. Sylvia was given some really heavy tranquilizers because she was almost completely irrational from the pain they are both feeling. And…the doctors don't know if they can save him. They are doing the best they can, but he is suffering from acute magical exhaustion, his spine is broken in three places, he lost his left arm, and has six broken ribs. And there's also a skull fracture. Even if he lives, he will be forced to retire."

Rin flinched, "He…he is that bad? It can't be…"

Yukio sat down. "You were right. If we stayed in that cellar they all would have been killed. Even with our help Arsenic, Naoya, Nautilus and Pyro all died. Izumi and Maruta are both under watch to make sure they don't commit suicide from the backlash of a familiar bond being severed."

Rin's heart skipped a beat as his vision grew blurry. "No…they can't be dead…they can't…"

Yukio looked at his brother, tears running down his face. "You have lost your humanity Rin. Now, you are a demon yourself, the exorcists will want to kill you. We can't become exorcists Rin. We saw how bad it gets, we won't be able to survive with only half our power. If we want to be exorcists we will need to use everything. Even the flames. And when we do, they will know who our father is. There is no way they would let us live after they know. And even if they did…after that battle I'm scared. They were the best of the best and they were being slaughtered. What can we do?"

And that's a wrap for this chapter. At last Astaroth was forced from Shiratori's body, and no, he will not be possessed again, it's harder to possess someone a second time because they build a resistance to it so to speak, but in the case of Shiratori(in this timeline) that isn't even the main factor. The affinity was ruined, the horror and disgust with what Astaroth did changed Shiratori, and now there isn't enough affinity for Astaroth to possess him. And fatal verses are verses from various scriptures, that are able to disrupt a demon's focus, they don't technically deal any damage, but the demon needs to use magic to defend against them. In reality, the fatal verse isn't what defeated Astaroth, it just enabled Shiratori to drive him out. It wouldn't have worked if Shiratori was "dead."

And now for the reviews.

Shiroikage: Do you approve of the Reveal? I did what I felt was right, and he has a period of adaptation to adjust to, but it will be some time before he has full control over his new demonic prowess.

Zorgon873: Yeah, sorry for the misunderstanding, but Shiro actually didn't die…yet. The angry dragon though, is not what you will see. She won't be conscious for the separation of souls, so she won't go into a frenzy, she will merely be depressed…very depressed.