The next day at school went on without incident… until lunch came around.
I was eating with Boss and Pinky when I noticed Her. She was just sitting there as if nothing happened. How dare she? Her back was turned to me but I just knew she had that fake smile on.
Everyone else's voices faded into static. I grasped a milk carton and got up. Boss said something directed at me, but I couldn't make out any of the words.
I walked up behind that worthless, ponytailed wagon without her noticing. Note to self, they can't sense malice.
When I was right behind her I lifted the milk carton, tipped it upside down, and crushed it over her head. She gasped in shock and quickly turned back; everything else went dead silent.
"Oh, look." I said. "You look just like your mother on an average Tuesday night."
She immediately threw a punch. I jumped back out of reach. Her eyes showed nothing but blind rage.
"What's the matter, did I hit a nerve?" Better remember that.
She swung again and I leaned just out of reach. I had a shit eating smirk, confident she couldn't hit me.
She hit me. As I straightened myself, she landed a quick jab square to my nose.
Taken aback, I reached for my face, wiping a thickish red liquid from above my mouth. I'm bleeding, she made me bleed…
I chuckled at the sight of the small amount of blood now staining my fingers, before erupting into a full on cackle.
"GOD, I FEEL SO ALIVE!" I screamed leaning backwards, with my arms outstretched. She visibly recoiled. Why? Don't know.
I took advantage of her momentary paralysis and delivered a vicious chop to the throat. She instinctively brought her hands to her neck in response, so I threw a gutshot, which made her lurch forward. As she hunched over I grabbed the base of her ponytail, and drove my knee into her face.
She pushed me away with a surprising amount of force, knocking me against a table which quickly cleared out. She stood straight up, her nose was bloody too now.
She rushed straight at me. I sprung on top of the lunch table, and she made a reach for my leg, attempting to yank me off. I stomped down on her hand, grinding her fingers under my steel toed boot.
As she pulled away I jumped back down, and smashed my forehead against her face. I tried swinging again but someone was holding my arm back. I turned my head to see Boss to my right.
"Snap out of it Brandon! It's over!" Boss yelled.
"Listen to us!" Pinky's desperate voice came from my left. She had my other arm.
Glaring forward, I saw several nameless student council members restraining the racist cunt.
"Brandon! Akeno! My Office. Now!" Specs had made an appearance.
The student council members dragged the ponytailed cunt out into the hallway, while Boss, and Pinky just held me in place for some time.
"Can we trust you to not start anything else if we let you go?" Boss asked assertively.
I took a deep inhale and exhale. "Yeah."
"Do you know where Sona's office is?" Pinky asked, a bit more hesitantly.
"No."
"Then we'll take you." Boss stated, leaving no room for argument. "And you are going to explain what just happened on the way there."
I went through the full story as I was led through the hall, minus the supernatural elements, to the shock and outrage of my club leaders.
"I can't believe Akeno would do that." Pinky exclaimed incredulously. "Who'd want to hurt Azalea?"
"You idolize someone for years, and they pull something like this." Boss muttered.
The rest of the trip remained silent, they must've had a lot to reevaluate.
"Here we are." Boss announced.
Pinky walked ahead and held the door open, while Boss gripped the back of my uniform's collar, just in case. Smart.
Inside Specs sat with Smartass standing by her side at a desk overlooking two seats. One was empty, and the other had that ponytailed trollop sitting in it. She was sporting a black eye, a crooked nose, and a busted lip. I grinned at my handiwork.
I put on the most cheerful facade I could muster. "Why hello Specs, hello smartass. Hello slag."
"Brandon, sit down." Specs commanded. Boss let go of my collar and I calmly took my seat, crossing one leg over the other.
"Thank you Murayama, and Katase, but I must ask that you leave now." Specs said, in a lighter, but still commanding tone. Both obeyed without a word, quietly shutting the door behind them.
"So Brandon, care to explain the stunt you pulled today?" Specs asked.
"She provoked me." I shrugged. "Not much to say really."
"WHAT?" Slag blurted out. "He came out of nowhere!"
"Calm yourself." Specs said. "Now Brandon. Explain." She ordered.
"After what she did to Azalea yesterday, she deserves a lot worse than a busted lip." I held my ground.
"That was all because I insulted your pet?"
"That was all because you made my sister cry, ya racist cunt." I asserted. "What you said absolutely devastated her."
"And what about what you said to me?"
"About your Mom's diseased snatch?" I rhetorically asked. "I thought that was self explanatory."
"Don't you Dare talk about my mother like that!" She snarled, jolting upwards, and facing me.
"Aww, did I hurt your whore feelings?" I would not let up mocking her.
"Why you!" She looked like she wanted to strangle me with her bare hands. Perfect, one little puncture to the throat, and I could play it off as self defense with two witnesses. I manifested a single shard of Shattered Glass in my closed hand.
Before my plan could come to fruition Specs intervened. The area around her started freezing over. Smartass was unfazed.
"You Will Not Start A Fight In My Office." Specs rigidly asserted her authority. "Sit back down!" The wagon reluctantly complied. I de-apparated the shard.
"Now Brandon." Specs began. "Why would you wait until today to respond to yesterday's events?"
"You know what happened." I sighed. "Had to make sure Azalea was okay, the last thing I expected to find was you hugging her."
Specs blushed. "You didn't have to share that part." She blurted.
"Sorry." I apologised. "But I really do appreciate what you did for her, I know my sister can be a bit…"
"Extra?" Specs guessed.
"I was going to say obnoxious, but that works too."
"You willingly hugged a fallen?" The racist twat asked incredulously.
"Half of a fallen." Specs specified. "Azalea is a nephilim."
"Raised exclusively by her human mother." I added.
A look of realization dawned on the slag's face. She opened her mouth to say something, but shortly closed it. I must be losing my touch, I could have sworn I saw guilt and regret in her eyes.
"Specs, I'm going to be real with you." I spoke genuinely. "Do you have any siblings?"
"Yes, I have one incredibly overbearing older sister." She confirmed, with a nod.
"Then how I reacted shouldn't surprise you." I stated. "Wouldn't your sister do the same in a similar situation?"
"No, it doesn't, and no, my sister would be far more extreme than you have been." Specs admitted with a sigh.
"I'll leave you both off with a warning." Specs began. "Akeno you are not to interact with either of the Byrne siblings, and Brandon you are to avoid Akeno. Do I make myself clear?"
"As long as she doesn't come close to my sister, I can live with that."
"What, that's it?! He doesn't even get a slap on the wrist?" The slag complained.
"Fine. Brandon, give me your hand." I compliantly stuck my arm out, and Specs limply slapped my wrist. "Happy now?"
The ponytailed bint was at a loss for words.
"You are dismissed, Akeno." Specs said, in a tone that made it clear that it was more of an order than a statement.
She got up, and stormed her way out of Specs' office, leaving me alone with the student council president and her vice president.
"Now Brandon, there are some things I'd like to discuss here in private, and some things I'd like us to discuss with my peerage present."
"Works for me, I have quite a few questions myself."
"Alright, starting out, how much do you know?"
"This information doesn't leave this room does it?"
"I can keep this confidential if need be, this is between you, me, and Tsubaki."
"I'd rather Smartass not be part of the equation." I said.
"Too bad, Dumbass. you'll have to deal with it." She spoke up for the first time.
"Alright, alright, but let me make one thing clear." I conceded, raising my hands in surrender. "I'm only cooperating because you've been treating my sister well."
"First off." Sona began. "Just how much do you know about the supernatural?"
"It was only yesterday that I learned devils exist, and the day before for fallen angels. I went to church every week when I was younger so I know the basics, but obviously that's from a biased perspective, so I'm not sure how much stock to put into it. I also read a portion of Ars Goetia yesterday."
"That's quite a bit to unpack." Specs said. "I guess I'll start by asking how you found out about fallen angels."
"One attacked me." I answered, standing up, and lifting part of my shirt to reveal the bruise. "Mistook me for someone else they wanted dead."
"You were attacked by a fallen angel, and only have a bruise to show for it?"
"It was more of a scuffle, the only hit he got off was a knee to the ribs."
"And then what happened?" Specs asked.
"He got a call from his boss, Raynare I think, saying she got the guy, and he flew off embarrassed." I explained. "I mean seriously, who'd mix me and Strap-on up?"
Smartass tried to suppress a giggle.
"So you just let him go?" Specs questioned.
"Wasn't my problem." I shrugged.
"Alright." Specs accepted my answer, looking a bit incredulous. "How about how you fought him off?"
I sighed. "I knew I'd have to explain this part eventually." I held my index finger pointed up, manifesting a glass shard above it. "This is Shattered Glass."
"We can see that." Smartass deadpanned. I ran my free hand down my face.
"Shattered Glass is the name of my stand." I deadpanned. "You don't even know what a stand is, do you?"
"No, we do not." Specs truthfully answered.
Dozens more multicoloured glass shards appeared around me. "A stand is a semi-corporeal manifestation of one's fighting spirit. They can only be damaged by another stand, and are usually only visible to other stand users. Mine's a special case."
"Since they're always by a user's side, they're called stands." I added.
"That's a rather vague explanation." Specs stated, expecting more.
"There's so much variation among them that that's all I can really tell you, stands don't really follow rules so much as a set of common patterns." I explained.
"In that case what can yours do?" Specs asked.
"That's going to require a bit more in-depth explanation. How about when we meet up later?"
"That's acceptable." Sona agreed.
"Anything else before I need to go?"
"You know she could have killed you, right?" Sona questioned.
"Please, my little sister throws punches harder than that."
"I'm not joking." Sona held. "Devils are far more physically capable than humans, and as a queen piece Akeno is far stronger than she looks."
"It's not a good idea to antagonize her." Smartass corroborated Specs' claim.
"It's not a good idea to antagonise my family." I countered. "I won't do anything rash unless I'm provoked."
"Odd, back when we first met it seemed like if your sister hadn't stopped you, you would have tried to shatter my glasses." Sona wryly recalled.
"I said I had to be provoked, I didn't say it takes a lot to provoke me." I shrugged.
The lunch bell rang.
"Well, it's been nice talking to you, see ya after school." I said, taking my leave.
"Do try to control yourself until then." Sona suggested.
"I will, but I can't say the same for however many students I pissed off by making their idol bleed." I stated. "I may have to defend myself."
Sona let out a long breath. "I'll allow it, just don't leave any long lasting injuries."
I flashed her a thumbs up as I walked out the door.
As I walked away from Sona's office the hallways began to fill with students. They muttered as I strode by, 'Tyrant,' 'psycho,' and ironically 'devil,' but they gave me a wide berth to pass. It seemed like no one wanted to actually confront me. Probably for the best.
For the remainder of the school day the mutterings continued, Tyrant seemed to be what stuck. Seemed like I was cemented with a nickname. It didn't really matter, it's not like I had a good reputation to begin with.
After going through the rest of my classes the final bell rang, and I was ready to head over to the student council. As I made my way there, that's when someone got brave enough to pick a fight.
I felt an impact to the back of my head. I thrust my elbow behind me, hitting the surprise assailant in the chest. He staggered back as I turned to face him.
"You know, I was expecting this to happen a lot sooner." I said, as the guy recovered.
"How dare you." The assailant growled.
"How dare I?" I repeated sarcastically, prudishly gesturing to myself. "You're the one who threw the first punch, don't blame me for fighting back."
I bent back, out of the way of his next attempt at a punch.
"How dare you do that to Akeno." He scorned.
"She had it coming."
"You'd just up and hit a girl?"
"I don't see how that's relevant, I only smacked around some dog." I snarked. "But to answer, I grew up in a matriarchal household roughhousing with my sister, and Mom always encouraged equal opportunity brawls."
With that he started swinging wildly. I swept his legs, and slammed his head into the floor tiles. He didn't get back up for any more. I continued my stroll to see Specs unabated.
Once I made it to the room I was greeted by Smartass, waiting to escort me in.
"Step inside." She ordered, holding the door open. I walked in without making any comment.
"Everyone, as most of you know this is Azalea's half brother." Specs announced as Smartass gestured for me to stand before the council. "He has agreed to be here and exchange information because of a previous incident."
Smartass nudged me for an introduction. "Hey, my name's Brandon, and first off I'd like to thank you all for how you've been treating my sister. I know she can be a handful, but it means a lot that you accept her here."
"How is she doing… after yesterday?" The white haired girl hesitantly asked. The blue haired girl's expression noticeably changed, she had an odd look in her eye. Jealousy? guilt? I wasn't entirely sure.
"She's doing alright, but Mom and I decided it was best that she take today off. Just in case."
"So we can expect her back by tomorrow?" Specs asked.
"That's the plan." I confirmed.
"In that case why don't we begin where you left off?" Specs said. "I believe you promised to explain your 'stand.'"
"Before I tell you all about Shattered Glass, how about you tell me a little more about yourselves?" I requested.
"As a species that is." I clarified. "Strengths, culture, misconceptions, common knowledge, I'm not picky. For all I know, you could all be sapient polyps."
"Very well." Wasn't expecting Specs to accept my terms so easily. "You mentioned earlier that you read the Ars Goetia."
"Skimmed, but yes."
"All of our major clans are descended from the demons named in that book."
"Wait a minute." I said, struck with realization. "Shitori from Sitri, Gremory from Gemori, you aren't even trying to hide it."
"What sane human would assume we were devils without prior knowledge of the supernatural?" Specs countered, with a slight smirk.
"Fair point." I conceded.
"Anyway, centuries ago there was a great war between angels, devils, and the fallen angels, that ended in the extinction of over half of those clans and an unsteady ceasefire between the three factions." Specs explained. "As you can probably guess, the resentment never faded."
"So that's why the slag went off on my sister."
"No, there's more to that." Specs rebutted with no further explanation.
"Since our populations are so low, and our birth rates are abysmal, we have found a way to artificially increase our numbers." She held up a translucent red chess piece. "With an evil piece we can reincarnate other species as a member of our peerage." Was this how they brought Strap-on back?
"Does the reincarnation have to be willing?" I asked.
"If the one being reincarnated is alive, yes. We can also bring back the recently deceased." Specs answered. "I'll say now that everyone in my peerage is here strictly by choice."
"So that's why Strap-on is up and kicking." I faked realization, scratching my chin. "Shame."
"Okay, am I the only one at a loss with all these nicknames?" The brown haired girl with the vomit inducing green socks asked.
"He means Issei Hyoudo." Smartass informed.
"So now that I've given you information on my species, I believe it's your turn to talk about 'stands.'"
"Alright." I snapped my finger, and a cascade of stained glass shards appeared, floating around me. "This is my stand, I call it 'Shattered Glass.'"
"A stand is a psychic manifestation of one's fighting spirit, typically they are invisible to non stand users, but mine is an exception." I began my explanation.
"Shattered Glass takes the form of numerous glass shards," I brought the shards surrounding me together in the shape of a hand. "Which I can freely manipulate, and attach together into different shapes."
"Honestly, that doesn't really seem impressive." The reddish brunette said.
"Oh, that's just what the occult research club knows about it." I smirked. "Which one of you is the strongest?"
"That would be me." Specs stated, raising her hand casually.
"Alright." The mosaic hand floated up to her. "Try to break it."
"Very well." She complied.
Specs put a hand parallel to either side of Shattered Glass, not making direct contact. Two circular runes appeared between her palms and my stand. The runes started glowing blue and water shot at Shattered Glass at extreme pressure from both sides. The force of the torrent filled the room with a thick mist, obscuring Specs, and Shattered Glass from everyone's sight.
After the mist cleared Shattered Glass was still floating there, completely unscathed, not even moved a centimeter by the attack.
"What?!" Sona went wide eyed in disbelief. "That was ten thousand pounds of pressure per square inch!"
"Another rule about stands is that only another stand can damage them." I said, wagging a finger. "I believe I already told you that."
I snapped my fingers again and Shattered Glass de-apperated.
"What else can it do?" The blue haired tomboy asked.
"There's one more thing, but before I show anyone I want to make it one hundred percent clear that none of this gets shared." I stipulated. "Otherwise, I'll just walk out right now."
"You have my word as a Sitri that neither I, nor my peerage will speak to anyone about what you're about to share." Specs affirmed.
"Including Azalea." I added.
"Including Azalea." Specs repeated.
"Okay." I scanned the room for something to demonstrate on. The blue haired girl had an apple on her desk. Perfect. "Hey Tomboy, toss me that apple."
The blue haired girl looked around before pointing to herself, I gave a nod, and she threw the fruit over. After catching the apple I manifested a small shard in the air.
"Here goes." I impaled the apple through the shard, leaving it suspended, and took a couple steps back, before snapping my fingers.
"Shattered Glass: Touch."
Azalea was relaxing on the living room sofa, still in her pajamas, watching whatever flashy tokusatsu show she could find.
"Azalea dear." Her mother called, walking up to the couch from the kitchen with a large bowl of crisps. "What did I miss?" She asked, taking a seat next to her daughter.
"You wouldn't believe what I just saw." Azalea said, before snagging a handful of the crisps.
"Are you going to explain it in any greater detail?" The mother asked.
"Nope." Azalea answered with her mouth full. "You'll just have to wait till it happens again."
"So, any more questions?" I asked, self satisfied. The room looked quite unsettled. Regardless, several hands were raised.
"W-where did that come from?" Pigtails sputtered out.
"I got stabbed with a fancy arrow at an abandoned museum as a kid." I answered. "Anything not about my stand? I believe I've shared quite enough about it." Oddly, none of the hands were lowered.
"Or any extension thereof." I added. The white haired girl lowered her hand.
"Okay, you." I said, pointing to the girl with the striped socks.
"What was it like growing up with Azalea?" She asked.
"She was always a handful, way too energetic to keep track of, and way too naive to leave on her own, she's mellowed out now but it's still hard to get her to sit still if there's nothing to focus on." I illustrated. "And don't even get me started on her diet."
"Reya and I have seen it." Smartass chimed in. "It's not pretty."
"Okay, next up." I deliberated for a moment, the redhead seemed very eager to get called upon. She didn't look like the type to ask any biting questions. "You."
"So, what's Azalea's type?" The redhead asked with a mischievous grin.
"Bold of you to ask her brother. I can respect that." I remarked. "Long hair, large breasts, older women, bad girls." I listed off on my fingers.
I turned to the council president. "Sorry to disappoint, Specs."
"I'm beginning to hate your entire family." Specs bemoaned.
"Lighten up, I'm just messing with you. I know Azalea's full of herself." I said, nudging her side with my elbow.
"Moving on." Specs said, slapping my elbow away.
"Anyone else?" I asked.
The blue haired girl got up and walked towards me.
"You're the girl that keeps giving Azalea the cold shoulder, right?" I asked. The girl's eyes widened. She was clearly incredibly guilty.
"I'm sorry." Was her only response as she looked down in remorse.
"Don't be." I said.
"What?" She replied in bewilderment.
"You don't have to get along with my sister." I stated. "As long as you aren't being openly antagonistic, I don't care."
"Still, I'd like to apologise." She insisted.
"Then apologise to her, not me." I advised. "She'll be back tomorrow."
"Alright, I will." She somewhat somberly agreed, before walking back to her seat.
"Alright, my turn again." I clapped my hands together, bringing all eyes back to me. Probably a bad idea to ask them directly for their weaknesses, but there was something else that's been bugging me anyway. "What is a 'sacred gear'?"
"I suppose that'll be important for you to know moving forward." Specs granted. "A sacred gear is a unique ability, sometimes in the form of a sealed supernatural entity, bestowed upon a human at birth by the god worshipped in the Judeo-christian faiths."
"Elohim." I uttered, and the rest of the room held their heads in pain. Well, that's one mystery solved.
"Please refrain from speaking any of his names around us." Sona requested, rubbing the side of her head. "You may have noticed devils have quite an adverse reaction to them."
"I'll keep that in mind." I said. "Anything else I should avoid saying, doing, or having around you?" That should be indirect enough.
"Clever." Specs stated in an unimpressed deadpan. Dammit, I got too impatient. Should've waited for it to come up more naturally. "I'll tell you, but only under the circumstances that you don't exploit them against me, or my peerage."
"Wasn't planning on it." So just not against her group, works just fine for me.
"Alright, anything considered holy, whether as words or physical items, naturally harms us. Light is also dangerous, not just holy light. As beings of darkness we devils can see perfectly well in the dark, but as you can guess this leads to some photosensitivity."
"Got it, no bible quotes, no holy water, and no shining bright lights in your eyes." I listed off. "Thank you."
I looked over to the clock and noticed that the time had passed faster than I realized. Mom should be arriving soon.
"Well, it's about time I head out, don't want to keep my Mom waiting too long." I excused myself.
"Wait." Sona halted me. "There's one more thing I'd like to ask you."
"Alright, make it quick."
She held up a red chess piece. Looked like a pawn. "Would you join my peerage?"
I laughed. I laughed continuously as I walked out of the room, totally undeterred by the sour looks I was getting. I let the door swing shut behind me.
After taking a moment to compose myself outside of their room I opened the door back up and stepped partially inside. "That was a no, if it wasn't clear." I said, in a firm tone of voice, completely straight faced, before stepping back out and closing the door securely behind me.
When Mom brought me home Azalea was still in her pajamas, watching TV and eating popcorn, sitting slumped to the side on the couch.
"Really living the day off to the fullest aren't you?" I snarked.
"Hey bro." She responded, sitting up straight. "Just catching up on TV."
"You doing okay?" I asked, taking a seat next to her.
"Yeah." She insisted. "I'm a strong girl, you can't keep me down for long."
"You sure are, Sis." I encouraged, bringing one arm around her for a side hug.
"You want to watch this with me?" She hesitantly requested.
"Sure, why not." I had no interest in what was playing, but Azalea could use the company at the moment.
We sat for a while, watching some odd show with a red, black, and silver giant changing form to fight a fire breathing dinosaur near a nuclear power plant. I wasn't following the plot.
I tried to reach for some of Azalea's popcorn, but she growled and I slowly pulled my arm back in response. Yep, she's back to normal alright.
After a couple hours I had to get up, the area wasn't going to map itself out.
"Welp, I'm gonna go take a walk." I said, stretching my arms out until they popped. "Call me if there's an emergency."
I didn't get any response, so I looked over to my side. Azalea was fast asleep.
"Aww." Normally I'd startle her up, but she's been through a lot recently. I grabbed a pillow from the other side of the couch, and placed it in front of her. She unconsciously hugged onto it before her wings shot out and cocooned the pillow along with her, then she slid over to her side.
"See you later, Sis." I said ruffling her hair.
"Going somewhere?" Mom asked from the kitchen's doorway.
"Just a walk, I'll be back later." I answered.
"Alright, stay safe."
"Will do." I said, turning to take my leave.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Mom coyly asked.
I looked around on my person before realization struck.
"Oh." I walked over to Mom and gave her a hug. She reciprocated, and whispered something in my ear.
"If you have to kill, do so with no hesitation." Her intonation was dead serious.
"Got it."
"Okay, see ya." Mom said, going back to her normal, kind tone of voice.
"See ya, Mom." I said back, giving a mock salute.
I was exploring a less inhabited part of Kuoh, the houses were spaced farther apart, and they seemed eerily vacant. If someone were to make any attempt at me, it would be here. Someone's going to make an attempt at me.
The hairs on the back of my neck bristled; there was someone out there, I was sure of it.
I stayed still, just listening, there was a rustle in some bushes. I calmly turned to face them.
"I know you're there." I nonchalantly stated.
Forgoing all pretense, there was a flash of silver. The stalker ran straight at me with a sword drawn. Shattered Glass blocked the swing of his blade before it could even get near me.
"Who did I piss off this time?" I groaned.
"Freed sellzen exorcist extraordinaire, and chopping up shitty devil sympathizers like you is what I do best." The guy said, pulling off a pose I'm sure he thought looked cool. The blade of his sword looked like it was made out of light, and he also carried a gun, no doubt here very illegally.
On closer inspection he looks around my age, maybe a couple years older. He'd be pretty handsome with that silver hair and those church robes, if it weren't for the insane glint in his eyes and that mouth on him.
"Exorcist? You look more like one of the choir boys." I sassed.
"What can I say, I'm a prodigy." He bragged. "But enough about me, let's kill you."
He aimed his gun at me and fired over and over, only for each shot to harmlessly ricochet off of a manifested shard of Shattered Glass. His eyes told me exactly where he was going to aim, it was child's play.
"No fair, you're not supposed to block them." He petulantly whined, stomping the ground.
"Dear God, can you get any more pathetic?" I rolled my eyes, and encased my arms, from fist to elbow, with Shattered Glass.
"Oh a tough guy?" He remarked with a maniacal expression, readying his sword. "Don't you want to have a little fun?"
"Coming on to me already?" I sarcastically questioned. "What poor form."
I launched my fist forward as he swung his sword. Clearly he thought he'd cleave right through Shattered Glass, but his blade bounced off my gauntleted fist. I took his moment of confusion to deliver an uppercut with my other arm, staggering him back.
"What the?" Was all he could get out before I delivered a knee to his ribs.
He breathlessly dodged my next punch and made some distance. Surprisingly fast for another human.
"Oh, you want to play dirty huh? Let me show you just how dirty I can get." He said, licking the top of his gun. No way am I stealing that now, in fact I don't care how useful that light sword might be, I don't want to come in contact with anything this guy's touched.
In a flash the mad priest disappeared and then reappeared to my left, swinging his sword down. As I brought up my arm to block it, he kicked me in the side, sending me onto the ground a meter away.
"Gotcha." He started firing again, but I formed a barrier with Shattered Glass, blocking the bullets as I quickly righted myself.
He was still only a meter away, well within range. I began laughing.
"What's so funny?" He growled, before attempting to rush forward again, only to land flat on his face. Shattered Glass had encased his foot.
"Gotcha." I said in an imitation of his voice.
He pushed himself back upright only for his other foot to get encased. He tried to swing his sword, but it along with his hand were frozen on the wind-up. Lastly he tried firing at me once more, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm back, shedding the Shattered Glass glove to hold him completely in place, standing one foot forward, arms outstretched.
"Okay, now tha-"
He spat at me. A couple shards of Shattered Glass formed a small shield and blocked the incoming saliva.
"Okay, now that you aren't going anywhere, how about you answer a few questions?" I said. "Who sent you after me?"
"No one sent me, I just looove chopping up little heretics like you into itty bitty pieces while your families watch." The look in his eyes said he wasn't lying.
"Psychotic fucker." This guy's insane, better follow Mom's advice after I get what I need. "Okay, then how do you know about me?"
"Do you really think I'd tell you?" He sneered, still struggling for a way out.
"Yes, that's why I asked." I responded sardonically.
"Well, you aren't getting shit." He tried spitting at me again, only for Shattered Glass to block it, again.
"Alright." I said, turning to my left. I knew exactly how to get him to talk.
I sat down, pulled out my book, and began reading. The man was still in my peripheral vision, but as far as he was concerned I was completely ignoring him.
"Hey, what are you doing?" He demanded. I just turned the page and continued reading.
He was clearly the type that lives off of attention, sooner or later he'd either crack, or accidentally let something slip when he opened his mouth just to hear himself speak. I'll just simply deny him any audience until then.
Some time had passed, and he began resorting to petty insults.
"You son of a bitch!" Heard it. "You limp dicked cunt!" Heard it. "You cocksucking heathen!" Technically correct. I licked my finger and turned to the next page, resisting the urge to grin.
Honestly, would it kill him to think up some original insults? There's barely any daylight left, soon enough it'll be too dark to make reading feasible. And then what am I supposed to do? Stare at him?
"I knew Dohnaseek was full of shit." He grumbled. "When he bragged to Mittelt and Kalawarner about his new sparring buddy I should've expected it was some dickless coward." Jackpot.
I got up. "Oh, a priest eavesdropping on a fallen angel's conversation?" I asked as smugly as possible. "Naughty, naughty."
Now that I had what I needed, there was no point in leaving this trash hanging. I re-encased my fists with Shattered Glass.
"You conniving asshole!" He spat, struggling even harder to escape.
"Why thank-you." I cheerfully replied. I've always wanted to do this. I pulled my fist back, readying to unleash a flurry of punches.
"Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Shatter Like Glass!" I called, ending my rush with a nose shattering strike to the face.
I pulled my fist back one last time and shards of glass coalesced into a large flat spike, sitting at the top of my gauntlet.
"Any last words?" I asked, fully expecting him to spit a bloody tooth in my direction.
"Flash grenade." He said, with a smirk, and before it fully sunk in I noticed his gun was on the ground, and his hand had gotten loose.
My eyes widened as he tossed something from his sleeve to the ground. No time to think Shattered Glass made an egg shaped barrier around me and I covered my eyes.
Even though my eyelids I could tell the flash went off. When I emerged he was gone, along with the gun, but the sword, and one of his shoes were still there. Guess he couldn't slip free without losing something.
I should've made sure he stayed totally secure when I finished my beat down, but there was no use crying over spilled milk. I'd be ready for him next time.
I snapped my fingers and Shattered Glass completely vanished, letting the deactivated light blade hit the ground, which I then crushed under heel. Afterwards I continued mapping the place out.
Note to self, this is yet another dangerous area, make sure Azalea stays away.
After another hour or so of memorising my surroundings I went home. It was a lot quieter than things usually were when Mom and Azalea were here alone.
"I'm home." I announced as I walked through the living room.
As I strolled through I noticed a couple large black feathers scattered about. Odd, Azalea's usually quick to clean up her molt, and these ones looked bigger than normal.
"Brandon! Over here." Mom's voice called from her home infirmary.
I ran over to find Mom and Azalea caring for an unconscious blue haired woman lying mostly covered by a thin blanket on the hospital bed. Her left leg was completely wrapped in an orthopedic cast.
Just what happened while I was gone?
Yoshikage Brandon is continued to be denied his quiet life. At least he gets his own stand rush.
My birthday just passed (my sister helped me buy a laptop to make handling my stories easier, uploading a chapter on mobile is a nightmare). To think I've been doing this for about a year now and I finished five whole chapters. Thank-you everyone for reading my garbage, I really appreciate it, especially those who leave reviews. I hope to continue improving in the future.
To address a concern a reviewer had over Akeno's characterisation in the last chapter, Azalea unknowingly hit a very sore spot for her when she said they were exactly alike. Like in Canon Akeno is ashamed of and wants to deny her fallen heritage, only to get sucker punched with an unexpected reminder. She took it personally, and projected her self loathing onto Azalea. Akeno also hadn't considered the possibility of Azalea being a hybrid, something Sona previously only brought up as a theory with Rias.
Normally if something is going to be touched upon in the plot at a later point I wouldn't make a response, but I felt since Akeno won't be a pivotal character, and the reveal that she's a hybrid won't happen for a couple arcs, it wouldn't harm the story if I went over that now. Thank you for your input.
Fun fact: Brandon would have only taken one pawn piece had he taken Sona up on her offer.
Bonus points to anyone who can guess the show Brandon and Azalea were watching.
