Taimanin Warriors
Chapter Ten: Demonic/Angelic Contact
Within the next three days, Raiden had been training his absolute hardest and putting his all into his training, as well as training with anyone he could think of; Asagi, Sakura, Mina, Su, anyone to train with in order to push his body beyond its limits. After his encounter with Kamoshida yesterday, Raiden was even more determined to get stronger and be able to defeat him on his own. So much so that he's falling behind in his studies, his distraction causing his grades to drop.
Something that Asagi took notice of.
In Asagi's office, the headmistress, along with Murasaki, Yuki, and Sakura were gathered.
"Raiden's been distracted lately." Asagi stated, getting to the point. "It's been affecting his grades; badly."
"Can you blame him?" Sakura said. "Ever since that bastard Kamoshida came back, Rai-chan's been on edge!"
"While I do applaud him for putting so much effort into training, his grades student wise have been abysmal." Murasaki said with a shake of her head. "To say less of him paying attention in class."
"Asagi-chan, what should we do?" Yuki inquired. "If this keeps up, Raiden may end up facing expulsion."
"I've already thought up an idea to help him relief that stress." Asagi declared. "There's an extermination mission that involves hunting demons out within the Virgin Forest, one that I believe will help him ease up."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Murasaki asked with a raised brow. "I don't mean to question your ideas, Asagi-chan, but wouldn't a mission like this just make it worse?"
"I have to agree with Murasaki-san on this one, Asagi-chan." Yuki said. "Given his current state of mind, he'd likely get himself into a dangerous predicament on a mission like this."
"Which is why we're going along to supervise this mission." Asagi declared. "And I trust Yamamato to look after the school while we're out."
Everyone looked from one to the other, apparent concern on their faces, even Murasaki, Asagi's most devout follower and friend, seemed to have her doubts about this idea. Regardless, they decided to put those doubts to the side for now.
"Sis, we trust your judgement." Sakura stated. "But at least let me be there in case something happens."
"And me as well." Murasaki declared. "I don't think I'd forgive myself if anything happened to you, Asagi-chan."
"I will stand by you as well." Yuki declared as well.
"Thank you, everyone." Asagi said with a smile. "This is also a good opportunity to see what the knights can do in battle."
"Now THAT I'm looking forward to!" Sakura declared with a smirk.
Asagi smiled with her plans set, hoping things would be well after today.
A few hours after the meeting, Asagi called for everyone she believed best suited for the mission. Standing at the entrance besides herself were Sakura, Murasaki, Yuki, Shiranui, along with the students Raiden, Sakura, and Rinko, and their guests Duke and Damond.
"Alright, here's the gist." Asagi declared. "We have a mission that involves demons being spotted in the Virgin Forest. Our mission is to find and exterminate every demon you find." She looked about the group. "Any questions?"
"Yes, why is she coming along?" Damond asked, pointing at Mina who was present with the group. "I don't mean to sound like I'm questioning your methods, but she is a maid, as I recall."
"Mina accompanies me wherever I go on missions." Asagi answered. "She will also be our medical support during this mission."
"Fine by me." Raiden declared. "Besides Sakura, I wouldn't mind having Mina come along for the ride!"
"I was planning on joining anyway, Raiden." Mina spoke up. "But I appreciate the sentiment."
"Any other questions?" Asagi asked.
No one said a word.
"Alright, let's head out!"
With everyone heading out into the forest, Sakura and Mina walked beside Raiden.
"It's gonna be insane, if there are strong demons in the forest." The blonde said, kicking at the dirt beneath his feet. "Can I count on you two to watch my back?"
"Always, Rai Rai~!" Sakura declared with a smile.
"You can count on me." Mina nodded.
They ran to keep up with the rest of the group, Sakura quietly hoping things would work well.
Meanwhile, back at Edwin Black's castle, Taro Kamoshida sat in the hospital wing, just now recovering from his injuries and vomiting, seething at the moment.
"Damn this sickness of mine." He cursed in silence. "If it wasn't for that, I would've mopped the floor with all of them!"
"More like you would have gotten yourself killed."
Taro looked up to see Oboro standing in the doorway, a frown on her face.
"Otherwise, all that work I had put into you would have been for nothing." She said.
"You calling me weak?" Taro demanded, not in the mood.
"I'm saying you're too arrogant, too ignorant of the limitations on your body." Oboro pointed out. "If you keep this up, you won't be of use to Master Edwin."
"Bullshit, I've busted my ass my entire life!" Taro shouted, clearly outraged. "I've been training ever since childhood, constantly pushing my body to the absolute, just so I can get out of my father's shadow! And for a time, it worked," He growled. "Then that, fatherless, fucking nobody, Raiden, popped in outta nowhere and stole the spotlight from me!"
Oboro, seeing the obvious anger, walked up to him and yanked him to his feet, much to the jock's confusion.
"Listen well, Taro Kamoshida." She said with a scowl. "I did not give you demon blood just so you'd get yourself killed, wasting all the time I had put into molding you into the perfect killing machine!" She then pulled him closer, their noses touching and sweat running down Taro's face. "You will continue doing as your told and obey my commands, or so help me, I will throw you in the pit with the rest of the rejects! Do I make myself clear?"
Taro quickly nodded, before Oboro released him.
"Obey well, and you'll go far." Oboro said as she turned on her heel. "Continue training and strengthening yourself; your just desserts will come soon."
And with that, the Traitor Taimanin left, leaving Taro to contemplate.
Back with the Taimanin group, Asagi lead the group through the forest, keeping a careful eye out for demons that may try to ambush them. For as long as she has been headmistress, Asagi has dealt with a great number of things that stress her out, but the number one thing that causes such stress was the fear of her students meeting their end at the claws of one of the many demons they face, especially since her sister happens to be one of those students, which adds to that stress. She tries to remind herself that Sakura can protect herself and she personally made sure that she has been well trained, but she still can't help but worry.
Especially after what happened to her previous lover. Just thinking about it made her heart ache.
"Asagi-chan?" Yuki spoke up, snapping out of her trance. "Are you alright?"
Asagi looked over to her childhood friend and felt her spirits lift. When they were young, Yuki was one of the few friends she ever had, the two forming a strong bond between the two, Asagi even developing a crush on him over time. After he disappeared, she felt like a piece of her had been ripped out. Although there was Kyousuke at one point, but even that didn't fill the void left in her heart. Now that her best friend was back, she felt like she could start anew.
"I'm alright, Yuki-chan." Asagi answered with a smile. "I was just worried about some things, but then I remembered that I have you at my side."
"You're not in this alone, Asagi." Yuki returned the smile. "We're all here to support you in every way."
Asagi smiled at this, grateful to have such steadfast friends, but a feeling of demonic energy sweeping over them made her take caution, holding up a hand to halt her group.
"Be ready, everyone." She called, drawing out her sword. "Demons are close."
Everyone readied themselves, bringing out their weapons and watching the surroundings, the demonic presence growing stronger, before large, black shapes and glowing red eyes form within the shadows of the forest, before the forms of several demons emerged, such as imps, hellhounds, minotaurs, cerberous' and other hellish creatures, all snarling and out for blood.
"Ready yourselves!" Asagi shouted, taking a stance as her students and fellow fighters.
The demons stared at their supposed prey, looking to sink their teeth into their flesh, before soon, the large herd of demons charged forward, Taimanin and Knights charging forward into the fray, cutting down any demon the came at them. The Taimanin evaded the attacks with agility and flexibility, while the Knights had their shields out to take the attacks head on before slashing at the demons.
Raiden charged forward, swinging his katana, then launched his chain-blade at one of the demons before pulling it in, then cutting it down with a single slash of his sword.
"Damn, there's a lot of them!" He commented, before taking a quick glance of his surroundings and seeing the rest of his fellow Taimanin fighting demons.
But no sign of Mina anywhere.
"Where'd Mina go?!" He said in a panic, completely missing the hellhound coming towards him.
By the time he turned to look, however, the hellhound in question was already crushed by a pair of large hands of large, monstrous bear od shadow, before it soon reverted back to the shadow of Sakura.
"You need to be more careful, Rai-Rai." She warned him. "You never know when these beasties will try to sneak up on you."
"Thanks." Raiden responded with a thumbs up before jumping back into the fray, Sakura looking on with worry before getting back into the action herself.
Damond swung his two-handed zweihander downward and cleaved a demon in half before swinging it in a wide arc, cutting several more demons in half, the cleaved bodies dissolving. He then turned to face another hellhound coming at him, baring its teeth, but just as he was about to swing his weapon, Rinko rushed in and killed the hellhound with several quick and precise slashes of her sword.
"You're pretty good!" Rinko declared. "I can see why the headmistress was interested in working with the Knights!"
Damond was amazed by such speed and precision, but what really made him blush a deep red was how the purple combat suit hugged her massive hourglass form, the top of the suit showing some of her massive breasts.
"Y-Yes, we Knights train hard to fight the demons." Damond said, managing to find his words. "And I can see that the Taimanin are well-suited for battle as well!"
Rinko chuckled at the comment before replying, "I hope to see more of what you can do, Knight in Shining Armor~."
With a wink, Rinko rushed back into the fight, Damond shaking the impure thoughts from his mind before following after.
Duke Swung his lance downward, cleaving a charging demon in half, before slamming the shaft end against the head of a minotaur, dazing it, before decapitating it with a swing. Turning around, he saw three demons get shot upward into the air by geysers of water, the Milf Taimanin cutting them into pieces with her own lance before landing next to the Knight Captain, not even breaking a sweat.
"I hope these small fry aren't giving you trouble, dear." Shiranui said in a flattery manner. "These shouldn't be that big of a problem~."
Duke only chuckled before twirling his lance in between his fingers, "Not by a long shot, Milady."
The two dashed forward, slashing and chopping any demon that dared to approach, Duke swinging downward an cutting down the first demon before bending over and allowing Shiranui to roll over his back and strike down the second demon that came running in.
Duke snuck in a few glances at Shiranui, admiring the way she moved as she fought, the way her combat suit hugged her incredible hourglass form.
"Like what you see, Sir Lancelot~?" Shiranui asked seductively.
"Hard not to acknowledge such skill." Duke replied. "Especially if the one I'm admiring possess' such beauty."
"My my, such a charmer~." Shiranui giggled. "Stick around and perhaps I'll show you more."
The two readied themselves as more demons came charging.
Asagi let out a battle cry as she cut down several demons with her katana, with Yuki and Murasaki by her side, the blue-haired young man freezing some of the demons with his ice powers and allowing Murasaki to shatter them to pieces with an overhead swing of her greataxe.
"Yuki, cut them into ice shards!" Asagi commanded.
Nodding, Yuki made a hand sign and unleashed his Ninja Art: Frost Fall, his body glowing a deep shade of blue and unleashing a freezing wind beyond the subzero temperature, the wind washing over the demons and freezing them solid, before swinging his sword a few times, then when he sheathed his sword, the frozen demons shattered into pieces.
"Murasaki, smash them!" Asagi called.
Rolling her shoulders, the Undying Taimanin charged in and raised her axe, roaring as she brought it down on several demons, crushing them under the force.
"Their numbers are dwindling!" Asagi called. "Keep pushing!"
Right after she said that, however, another large group of demons appeared from the forest, all out for blood.
"Damnit, how many of these freaks are there!" Raiden yelled, before a hellhound clamped its jaws around his arm, teeth sinking into his flesh and drawing blood. "GAAAHH!"
"Raiden!" Sakura screamed before rushing to his aid, murder in her eyes. "GET AWAY FROM MY HUSBANDO!"
She proceeded to stab one of her ninja knives into the back of the hellhounds neck, forcing it to let go of Raiden, before the Tomboy Taimanin went on to stab it repeatedly in the head, and didn't stop even when it stopped moving.
"THAT'S! WHAT! YOU! GET!" Sakura screamed with each stab before finishing it off with one last stab before turning to Raiden. "Rai-Rai, are you okay?!"
"Yeah, I'm good." Raiden said, cringing from the pain in his arm. "Damn, that stung."
"You should try to be more careful; those hellhounds can sneak up on you!" She said before thinking to herself. 'Thank God he didn't hear me scream 'husbando', not yet, anyways.'
She looked up to see several hellhounds and imps stalking toward them, baring their teeth, as Sakura raised her knives, while Raiden raised his katana with one hand, when suddenly, the approaching demons were cut down by several flaming swords, much to the surprise of the duo.
"What just happened?" Raiden asked.
Before Sakura answered, she took note of how the flames were completely white, and the blades looked like something out of a certain holy place, "I had no idea we'd run into them again."
"Who?" Raiden questioned with a raised brow.
The two turned to see the demons get cut down by the same flaming blades, as well as gunfire that seem to come from the sky, before seeing what appeared to be heavenly figures descend before Asagi.
"You'll see." Sakura assured, before taking hold of his arm.
Raiden went along until they reached Asagi's group, Shiranui, Rinko and the two Knights, as they had a better look at the heavenly figures; there were some of them that seemed heavily covered in what looked like white and gold armor, as well as holding heavenly firearms, but the leader stood at least seven feet tall, with short blond hair and golden yellow eyes, and while the others had two, maybe four, pairs of heavenly wings, the leader had six large, white feathered wings, holding a large, golden ornate sword and having a golden halo floating over his head.
Raiden stared in awe, managing to ask, "Are those…Angels?"
"The servants of God, yeah." Sakura nodded, slightly nervous. "We've had a few encounters with them, although thankfully rare." She pointed towards the lead angel. "See the big guy with the blond hair and flaming eyes? That's Uriel, the Flame of God and one of the seven archangels of Heaven."
Raiden looked at the angels, "Huh. Not quite how I thought they'd look."
"What, were you expecting them to be babies or nearly-naked women?" Murasaki asked with a frown.
"Maybe." Raiden responded in an unsure tone.
"My God, grow the fuck up, Raiden." Murasaki said with a shake of her head.
Asagi watched the angel descend before her, his stern eyes looking over the Gosha Academy headmistress before speaking, "It's been a while since we last met, Mortal Asagi."
"Indeed, Archangel Uriel." Asagi said before bowing respectfully.
"It is an honor to meet an agent of God's will." Duke declared before bowing as well, Damond quickly following suit.
Usiel looked over the small group before setting his gaze back on the headmistress, "Quite the coincidence, meeting when we were on our way to exterminate demons in this region."
"I was taking my students on a mission to exterminate demons in this forest." Asagi said. "We felt it necessary to give some of them a taste of Taimanin might."
"And yet the scourge's of Hell were giving you trouble." Uriel pointed out. "Does your 'might' have its limit?"
"Geez, condescending much?" Raiden whispered to Sakura.
"You have no idea." Sakura replied in a whisper, rolling her eyes. "Always acting hoity toity, holier than thou-"
"Quiet!" Murasaki hissed in a whisper at the two. "You want to make them mad, if they hear you?!"
"I understand that my students have much to learn, as well as a few learning curves." Asagi admitted begrudgingly. "But I have faith that my students will only get better as they master what I teach them."
"And yet your 'students' struggle against such lesser creatures." Uriel scoffed. "Honestly, if your people cannot handle such weaklings, you should stand aside and leave the extermination to true demon killers, not mortals in over their heads."
"Hey, asshole, we're doing the best we can here!" Raiden shouted as he stepped forward, clearly not having it with such arrogance. "And last I checked, we're the ones doing all the work, while you lot were sitting on your fancy thrones in the sky!"
"Raiden!" Murasaki snapped, about to chastise him.
Uriel only looked towards the blonde young man before squinting his eyes at him, "You…your aura feels familiar."
"Eh?" Raiden did a doubletake at this.
"Your aura seems almost familiar." Uriel sneered, his face close to Raiden's as his eyes nearly went aflame. "Almost…demonic."
'This isn't good.' Sakura thought in distress. 'If he comes to conclusion that Raiden's…'
"Uriel, I would appreciate that you don't harass my students." Asagi stated, getting in front of Raiden and glaring at the archangel. "And Raiden is right; we're doing the best we can and will continue to learn from our mistakes and grow. I only ask that you understand that while we may not be as powerful and effective as you, we're still doing the best we can."
Everyone was waiting with bated breath, all sweating nervously as the Flame of God stared back with anger, before breathing in and letting it out before speaking.
"If you insist." He said. "We will leave for now, but-"
"Lady Asagi!" Mina called as she emerged from the bushes. "I was wondering where you were!"
"Mina!" Raiden gasped. Where'd you go?!"
"Never mind that!" Mina said before going right up to Raiden with a first aid kit. "Look at your arm! It's all bloody!"
Asagi was about to question why the maid was absent until now, but felt the area suddenly get hot. Turning back, her eyes widened at the sight of the archangel's body suddenly light up, coated with flame, before Uriel suddenly let out a fierce roar.
"ABOMINATION!"
Suddenly, he dashed forward before anyone could attempt to stop him, Uriel's flaming sword poised to bury itself into Mina's head, when there was a loud clang of metal, everyone looking in shock to see Raiden with his sword pressing against the flaming blade, his eyes and hair pitch black, his skin pale as snow, his body crackling with electricity…
…and his eyes filled with venom.
"YOU KEEP AWAY FROM HER!"
With that roar, Raiden pushed back, barely able to send the archangel back a bit, the Flame of God staring with burning hatred.
"Another abomination." He seethed before letting out a commanding roar. "KILL THEM ALL!"
The other angels let loose heavenly gunfire, the Knights quick to raise their shields to block the bullets, as well as Yuki forming an ice wall for the Taimanin quick to hide behind for cover.
Raiden stood defiantly before the archangel, katana in hand before charging forward, aiming to send an overhead strike at his opponent, only for Uriel to easily bat the sword away, knocking the sword from Raiden's grip, much to the blonde's shock. Shaking off the shock, Raiden charged up his fist with electricity before charging in, slamming his fist into the armor of Uriel's torso, who remained unmoving from the impact, but this did little to deter Raiden, as he delivered hard, fast punches to the chest before finishing it up with one more punch, but backed up slightly, shocked that the attack didn't seem to faze the angel, who simply brushed his shoulder, as if to brush off dust.
Determined, Raiden soon charged up both fists with electricity and started sending a barrage of punches to the torso, and while the archangel flinched here and there, it still didn't seem to do any damage. Raiden soon finished it with a double fist punch to the torso, and although it pushed him back, Uriel simply straightened back up, not a single scratch on his armor.
"What the Hell?!" Raiden gaped. "How the fuck are you still standing?!"
Uriel chuckled in response, a smirk on his face, as he held up a fist, heavenly magic flowing through it, "Holy magic, son. Demons and mortals are nothing compared to the might of God's seven."
He soon opened his hand, a wave of holy magic flowing over the area, and while it didn't hurt Raiden, it sent shivers down his spine. Trying not to be intimidated, Raiden dashed forward, then slammed an electricity charged fist into Uriel's face, but like before, it did no damage.
"What did I just say?"
Before Raiden could give any sort of reply, the archangel threw a left hook into Raiden's head, sending him flying through several trees before he crashed into the ground.
"RAIDEN!" Mina screamed in horror, quickly running to Raiden's side and pulled him up a bit, leaning him against a tree, the young adult barely moving from the attack.
"Both of you will suffer a fate worse than death, abomination." Uriel snarled as he approached, but stopped when Asagi stepped in front, her eyes beginning to glow.
"You will not lay a hand on my students!" She growled, her body beginning to glow.
The only response Uriel gave was raising his sword over his head and charging, aiming to skewer the headmistress, only for a bright light to shine once more, causing all the fighting to die down, everyone, mortal and angel, to look and see a new figure standing between headmistress and archangel; another heavenly figure, about the same height as Uriel, sporting long, brown hair and blue eyes, wearing heavenly armor and holding an ornate shortsword, standing before Uriel and his back to Asagi.
"Letting your temper get the better of you again, Uriel?" The archangel said. "Such emotions are beneath you, brother."
"Do not patronize me, Michael!" Uriel growled. "I am delivering judgement upon these abominations!"
"And what did they do to deserve such harshness?" Michael inquired. "Besides simply existing."
"They are byproducts of Lucifer himself!" Uriel roared. "They harbor demons from Hell!"
Shaking his head at his brother's outrage, Michael calmly looked over his shoulder in Asagi's direction, his eyes settling on Raiden and Mina for a moment before returning his gaze to his brother.
"Have they harmed any humans lately?" He asked simply.
"No, but-" Uriel was about to retort, but Michael didn't give him the chance.
"Then I see no reason to bring these mortals harm, even if your belief was true." Michael declared. "Do you?"
Uriel scowled but relented, turning away as the leader of the archangels faced Asagi, "I'm terribly sorry on behalf of my brother, Lady Asagi. He takes his role as archangel quite seriously."
"All is forgiven, Michael." Asagi nodded. "I only pray it doesn't happen again."
"I'll see to it that it doesn't." Michael agreed before turning towards the Flame of God and the other angels. "We are leaving. Do not argue and come."
The other angels nodded before following the departing archangel, Uriel glaring at Raiden and Mina before following his brother, leaving the Knights and Taimanin in surprise.
"Well, that happened." Damond spoke up.
"Now would be a good time to return." Shiranui stated. "Our mission is complete, and a crisis has been averted."
"I agree." Asagi nodded. "Everyone, time to head back!"
Sure enough, everyone filled in, Sakura and Mina helping Raiden to his feet, as well as making sure to grab his sword, the young man sure enough recovering from the attack and managing to move again.
"Shit, that hurt." Raiden groaned in pain. "Who'd thought angels would hit so hard…"
"You'll heal over time, Rai-Rai." Sakura assured. "Still, we'll get you checked up and fix that-"
She stopped, however, and nearly gasped at the sight of Raiden's arm; it was completely healed, save for a few holes in the sleeve.
"Yo, did that mega form heal your injuries?!" Sakura gasped.
"I guess so." Raiden nodded, flexing his arm a bit before smirking. "Might come in handy."
Sakura frowned at this, concerned for her friend, before Mina spoke up, "I appreciate you for standing in my defense, Raiden-kun."
"Hey, I wasn't just gonna let that high and mighty creep hurt you!" Raiden declared, that smirk never leaving his face.
"And where did you go off to, while we were dealing with the demons before the angels came upon us." Murasaki demanded with crossed arms.
"I was dealing with my own fair share of demons." Mina shrugged. "As well as disposing the mess I left."
"So, do you know those angel guys?" Raiden asked.
"I knew of them from previous encounters during my service serving other masters before I came to serve Asagi." Mina nodded.
"Is that why you stood by while we were having our asses handed to us?" Murasaki said with narrowed eyes.
"In case you haven't noticed," Mina frowned. "I was trying to avoid their leader from trying to drive a holy blade through my face the whole time."
Murasaki was silent before turning away, "Point taken."
With that, the group proceeded to return to the academy, unaware of someone watching from a distance, a pale-skinned man with brown eyes and gray hair, wearing a black coat and a top hat, and carrying what looked like a cane.
"Such interesting new friends you have here, Asagi Igawa." The old man said with an interested smile. "I'll be sure to let the Nine Dragon know of this."
And there's the new chapter! Crusader and I had this idea planned out because, as you all know, when there's demons, there's gotta be angels out there, and the gang had a not-so-great encounter. Next time, they may not be so lucky!
And if you can guess who the person at the end is, ten points to whatever House you're in, because that person will appear in later chapters, don't you worry!
And with that, dear readers, I hope to see you guys in future chapters, hope you stick around for more, and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!