Chapter 3
Origins and backstories.
Yuuta P.O.V
I let the book I was 'reading' droop slightly in my hands as I stared blankly at the book, math assaulting my eyes.
Clearly, something was amiss here. Nibutani of all people had just joined our strange club. Without so much as an explanation.
She doesn't seem like the type of person that would be interested in any kind of magic related to this. Several factors here could be in play but none of them could make any feasible sense...unless.
There is a small, minuscule even, chance of her joining for me.
No! Stop! Don't get your hopes up! Do. Not. Try. Anything! Do you understand?
I had planned to leave the club once there were enough members, and our mystery classmate filled that role nicely. BUT! As they say, curiosity killed the cat and it was raring to kill my chances with Nibutani.
It just seemed...odd to say the very least. For a girl like her to be into something like this.
On the topic of strange members within the club, there is also the said mystery person. Ever since he came back, with no intention of telling us why or where he went, he had avoided the subject of magic altogether. Which was odd considering how much he was intertwined with the magic in my life. He is most definitely a 'different breed' as some people would say.
What would we even do as a group? As club activity. You got Ms. Beutiful and poplar, two small women with magic and cult-like tendencies, someone who loves her naps, me, and lastly a guy no one knows anything about.
I shoved that thought aside as I stood up from my seat after I put my book away and started walking to our new club room. On the way, I ran into Mr. Mysterious.
Saying nothing, he gave me an awkward grin like he knew something I didn't.
When I slid the door open to the club room, my eyes were hit with a blinding light.
"What the?!" Soon enough my eyes were given the chance to adjust and found my eye assistants. The two short magic women.
"Very intriguing!" Dekomori exclaimed as both turned off the eye assaulters 500's(aka flashlights). "The Dark Flame Master has been summoned as you predicted Master, but 10.785639864748 seconds sooner"
"This is such the power of the magic summoning circle I showed you. By channeling the power of Heh, an Egyptian god of time, you can alter this plane for your benefit" Rikka explained.
"What the heck are you two doing?" I asked still blinking after the bright light.
"We have been conducting a series of tests to determine the integrity of this world to make sure it can handle what we plan to do" Rikka explained.
"I understand that part, but what is up with that?" I asked pointing to a large blue magic circle drawn on the floor.
"Oh, dope. Do you need some extra juice to make it glow?" ... Let's call him H, he looks like his name starts with an H.
"Yes, but no need to bother, we have prepared for this event so we don't require extra mana," Rikka said, seemingly grateful for his offer.
"Anyway, that is a summoning circle that can break the lines between anything from reality and fantasy to life and death" Dekomori explained as she patted it like it was some kind of pet.
"Why do we need that?" I asked, a hit of worry taping into my tone. That sounds...dangerous.
"Ah right, you have yet to regain all of your memories," Rikka said as she put away her flashlight and stepped closer to the circle. "By using this magic circle, we can visit worlds adjacent to this one, and summon other beings to our world. Our final goal is to destroy the invisible boundary lines, but it is for naught if we stay within this world. So we must venture out into different worlds to retrieve a powerful ancient artifact created by several godly beings with the assistance of the Wicked Lord: The Golden Fish Fin/Red Dragon Scale"
I blinked. "I thought you said we were looking for the Exalthumanemah."
"For undisclosed reasons, the name of the artifact has been changed spontaneously for a more humorous effect," Rikka said with a solemn nod before continuing.
"It was meant to power the universe's largest duel disk" Dekomori added. "But the Dark Organization stole it and now uses its unlimited magic to sustain the Invisible Boundary Lines"
"Jerks, it was bad enough they tried to take us out, but now they won't let us duel like the freaking awesome people we are. Like it doesn't feel the same going 'I activate the overlay network!' without some cool galaxy effect going on" H grumbled, although he sounded quite good-natured, likely trying to lighten the mood.
"So if the Invisible Boundary Lines are placed around us like a blanket, they would have to be projecting them from a place outside to they can defend it better" I pieced together.
"Exactly. If we can locate the Red Scale from within another world, we can slip past the Bureau's defensive line, destroy it, and the Invisible Boundary Lines will cease to exist!" Rikka said as she snapped her fingers. "Your catching on quick Dark Flame Master"
I smacked myself while H patted me on the back as if to say, "It's ok man"
"The Bureau has most likely set up a defensive line of demons to defend the Golden fin, so we must visit worlds that house demons. And to find those, we need to sacrifice demonic components!" Dekomori exclaimed
"Ah I mean I could help-" H started before Rikka spoke, almost as if she couldn't hear him
"If that is all your questions, I shall begin the ritual" She squatted down, and I noticed that Kumin and Chimera were asleep inside the circle.
"*Sleep noise* S-sacrifice my soul bring rise to a dark lord and my his reign be forevermore," Kumin said in her sleep.
H for one looked very alarmed. "I- am I the only one hearing this?"
Nah you and me both. I doubt she really means that.
Rikka went to the center of the circle and knelt, placing her hand on the ground, reminding me of some dark magic manga I lost interest in once the main character became a villain or something.
"In the name of the EYe of the Wicked Lord, I summon thee. Thy true name: Silent Midnight. I summon thy power, thy ambition, thy darkness, thy light, devoid of connection to this domain, I shall sustain you with the darkness within our souls"
As she chanted, suddenly the circle began to glow, a light blue, covering the whole room. I took a few steps back because it was astonishing, then realized that the circle was just made of LED strips and Dekomori had turned them on at the right moment.
"Why did you put lights-?" I started to ask but H started sending me warning signs with his eyes.
"Because to make it glow by itself my master would have to dispel excess mana, which would be a waste! We try to be resourceful for maximum coolness" Dekomori said with more confidence than I've had for the past week.
"Why make it glow if you don't want to pay the extra cost?"
"What?! Preposterous! How dare you even utter such words in my presence?!" Dekomori seemed almost...revolted at my words. "A magic circle lacking glowing light would be like a battle lacking the poses!"
"Why do we need to pose again?" I asked and this time, H got enough of myself inflicted pain(I guess he was starting to feel it second hand)
"Well everyone connected to the Wicked eye and I mean just them, have been using their own vocab, phrases, and poses since the beginning to increase their magic power by stirring the imagination which, as you know, is the key to magic. " H said.
"Wait just them?" I asked.
"Yes, dear gods yes! Several of them claim that the other mages had poked fun at them out of jealousy. No, not the case, you guys were just weird even among magic people" H spat out exasperated. "I swear to you Yuuta, not all of us are this weird! In fact, the lady that approved this club is a witch herself and she is rather normal"
Before I could speak, the door opened, in walking a very attractive cheerleader.
I heard H whistle and mutter. "I hate her guts but her body is a different story"
I can confirm to the world(and likely my dreams later) that she did look amazing in that outfit.
"Helloo everyone! Sorry for being late, Cheerleading practice was harder to escape from than I thought it would be" She said as she walked in, scratching her head.
I quickly covered my exposed bandage and stood up to greet her. "Hey Nibutani, glad to see you showed"
H had stood up and tried to exit, but Dekomori had slammed the door shut as Rikka got up close and personal with the new member.
"So, you wish to join our ranks?" Rikka asked as she leaned in closer than what should be comfortable(I doubt it was, she was looking a tad awkward). "What is your intention in joining our club? "
"Oh, that! Yeah, I got plenty of good reasons for that, it's just..." She chuckled for a bit, then looked away. "...reasons" was all she said vaguely.
THAT'S SUSPICIOUS I WANNA KNOW MORE! Ahem I mean, that was very odd of her to phase it like that. I wonder the reason behind it.
"Master that phrasing was quite odd. She could be an enemy" Dekomori voiced the second bit of my inner thoughts.
H sighed and sat next to Kumin, who grabbed at him, which he narrowly dodged.
"Nonsense Dekomori. My Wicked Eye shall unveil the truth hidden within this girl. But head my warning Shinka Nibutani, once your mind has been defogged of the heavy magic now shrouding your mind, you may not be able to return to a normal life. Do you wish to continue even holding this knowledge?"
"Oh, yeah! Don't worry, I'm going to be joining without hesitation!" Nibutani said sounding slightly less enthusiastic than I'm used to.
"Then let us begin the tests of your true self," Rikka said as she pulled her eyepatch.
The second she saw the golden eye, she very understandably, did a double-take, even blinking a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"Her Magic reading is very acceptable standing at 10 times that of a human, she was likely a powerful Exalt in one of her past lives. An affinity for healing, enhancement spells, plus control over heavenly magic. Rather standard control over her magic and surprisingly she is from a 100% pure fae bloodline. Her true age is at the very least 1000 years." Rikka said before covering her eye, not noticing how Nibutani started to sweat.
"Oh- haha...Where are you *gulp* getting this from exactly?" She asked, still sweating bullets.
"The Wicked Eye sees all" Rikka stated. "She shall be a great addition to our team but the seal over her is just as strong as the one that was placed on the Dark Flame Master"
"Are you guys sure we should be dumping this on her? " I asked still unsure about this whole thing. "It's one thing with H-" I glanced at him. "Is it ok if I call you H?"
"Yeah you're fine man, it's probably better than 'that guy from the train', 'the dark-haired guy', or whatever other half-cocked name you might have been referring to me in your mind," He said with a scoff, and I continued speaking ignoring that clear blow meant for my pride.
"So H here I understand, he seems to be well versed in magic, but Nibutani I don't think-"
"Yuuta, it's fine." She interrupted me with a smile. "I doubt magic would be as simple as math or reading, I came prepared to make a few ends meet if I wanted to join the club"
"If you insist," I said as I thought about how ready she seemed to get through Rikka's...eccentric ideas.
"If you would please, step into the circle," Rikka said but before she could H stopped her.
"Imma be dead honest, I'm tired of waiting for your character development." H said as he pulled her away from the circle. "I just want to get to the action, Rikka do you mind if I try something I know to be more effective and faster than what you wanted to do?"
Rikka nodded. "Of course, you have proven yourself to be a semi-competent mage in the past"
"Master are you sure about this?" Dekomori asked after shuffling closer to her Master.
"Yes, according to several reports he is an Exalt that has abandoned the ways of his people, instead of drawing on the normal magic he should, he always pulled from the power of the Nemah which should have been impossible but he managed to become even more powerful by using the darkness in his soul-"
H cleared his throat, uncomfortable. "Any rumors about what magic I use is likely wrong. Speaking of magic..." He trailed off as his palm glowed a green color. "Infinity's Passing"
On instinct, I felt my body lock into a body position, and I noticed the other girls had done the same. Then I recognized the spell but it was too late, before I could yell out a warning, a couch formed out of a green torrent under us, once all of us(besides Kumin who was sleeping peacefully) were forced to be seated(Nibutani had her own chair) chains shot out and strapped us to our seats, well...besides Kumin who got a nice looking blanket.
"Uh, Master! I think he has ill intentions! I have a deathly horrid feeling about this!" Dekomori exclaimed as she struggled in her chains.
I snapped at her. "You don't say?!"
"Relax! The chains will be looser if we stay still and relax our muscles!" Rikka shouted, only to squeak a few seconds later to let us know her chains tightened.
"Would you people shut up!" H nearly yelled at us. "It's bad enough I had to gag the cheerleader, do you want one too?"
I looked over, and Nibutani was indeed gaged, and very angry looking.
"Gods, you people are so stubborn. The only person that needed restraining was this chick but you guys had to assume the worst!" H exclaimed. "I chained her down so she wouldn't get hurt you, buffoons! You had literally said, not even 20 minutes ago that you trusted me!"
He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he spoke again. "Ok girl that will be de-chuunirized, I need you to remain as still as possible no matter what or you will die in a matter of a few very painful seconds. You will feel like every fiber of your very existence is being ripped to shreds, burned, stopped on, kicked with someone's puppy, frozen and stabbed by a million rusty daggers and I don't wish to put you through that, so if you do move and the magic tries to consume you, I will put you out of your misery by swiftly snapping your neck. Understood?...good."
"Oblivions Introduction" with that a dark cloud of energy that looked like it was trying to suck everything into it, had erupted from around his palm. Then it started circling Nibutani's head, when she tried to jolt as a reflex, his hand shot out to hold her in place, and didn't move it until a single white glowing string seemed to appear over her head, when it was visible he whispered "Got em'"
The magic he had cast swarmed the string and ate into it until none remained.
The chains on us suddenly broke and he stood there panting a little.
"So...I assume you have questions?"He asked
We all nodded.
"Too bad, I'm not in the mood, find me on Sunday or something," He said and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Nibutani was the first to speak, none de-gaged and flat on her backend.. "w-what the actual FUC-"
.
Soon enough we had managed to get her to calm down(Which took a solid half an hour), it wasn't easy learning that the life you tried to leave behind because it wasn't real, was real and much better than the life you left it for.
"I- actually am Mori Summer?" She asked, still baffled. "I - just can't wrap my head around this."
I chuckled. "Yeah I felt the same way too for a little while"
"Well now our last member has awoken, it's only a matter of time before the fairy's come to greet their speaker," Rikka said with a wise-looking nod.
"I- this is a joke right?" She asked. "I left the words of Mori Summer behind a long time ago. Like I came here for the sole purpose of getting my hands on that book and burning it."
"I never understood why-" Dekomori said with her hair shadowing her face. "Why did you leave? Why did you let then reduce you- to -to some human?"
"Hey Dekomori, this wasn't a choice, why would anyone want to leave this life?" I asked
"To forget" A new voice, H had popped back up. "I'm a lot older than you would think, or at least my soul is"
"Your soul?" I asked
"Yeah I was there from the beginning pretty much, I've seen a lot of things in my life that I want to forget"
"What kind of things-?"
Nibutani elbowed me, trying to warn me that this wasn't a happy topic for him. Well too late, I already asked.
"What kinds of things? Well, where to start? Let us start with seeing my closest allies and family slowly forget about me, watching those same people die as I was powerless" He said, his voice had gone cold. "So tell me Yuuta, if you had seen things like that over and over again in your life would you not be at the very least a tad bitter? I'll tell you this, watching the people of my home die or betray us as they forced the world I helped create apart, it kinda stung" H said his voice dripping with venom.
With that, he angrily kicked the door open(he sent it flying out of its very sturdy hinges, Rikka had placed several charms and spells on it to make it more durable).
He then let me see the flip of the bird as one might say, or the one-finger salute. "You should be a bit more sensitive Yuuta!"
Nibutani wacked me. "That was pretty insensitive"
"I'm sorry he has mood swings like he's on a period or something," I said sarcastically.
"He just kinda seems...broken in a way," She said
"What do you mean?" I asked slightly confused as the two main Chunni girls were piecing something together in their minds.
"He's rather inconsistent don't you think?" She asked. "He has something he's hiding"
"Really?" I glanced back. He has been acting rather odd.
I recalled something she had told me. "As long as you hide it with a cute smile and use the right words, you could be an absolute imbecile and you could still be treated as a model citizen"
If I apply that to H, he would be hiding behind his overall personality(at least what I think it to be) and he does the to cope with whatever happened in the past.
If that is the case, he lashes out sometimes because he wants to just get things over with.
"You're not applying some kind of manga logic to him, are you?" Nibutani asked me, looking very critical.
"What? No, no. Our life isn't some kinda anime, why would I do that?!" I asked quickly as I started to sweat a little more.
That was a close one
"He is a real person Yuuta, it's best not to get anime and reality mixed up," Rikka said with a solemn nod.
"But- Isn't-? Never mind" I stopped myself from asking the questions on my mind, weren't most of our edgy characters based on some anime? Like we are our own thing but at the same time, we have the same(albeit altered) vibe. The reason, I thought I had become the Dark Flame Master was because I was obsessed with dark and edgy anime characters like that.
"What confounds me is what race he falls under," Dekomori said, seemingly over the whole Mori Summer back from the grave thing.
"What is the difference between the two races anyway?" I asked
"Yeah what are they, I still have a few things my mind is trying to piece together but that isn't connecting for some reason" Nibutani stated.
"Exalt are people of light in a sense. Anything just and honorable you will find among their people. They use magic from light, such as healing. White mages, like you Mori Summer, or pure-hearted ones like Kumin." Rikka explained.
"Wait, then why can Kumin summon people from other places?" I asked.
"It is likely a bloodline trait that was gifted to one of her ancestors from a fairy of some kind as those are the main speakers with fairies" She responded.
"Fairies can grant the power of yanking people from other dimensions?" I asked, which was promptly ignored. Of course.
"Ok and the Nemah?" Nibutani asked
"Nemah's are driven more by their passion above all, they value strength. Unlike their counterparts, they use dark magic. You have warriors like Dekomori that seek death on the battlefield and corrupted seers like me." Rikka explained. I guess I was a bit of a loose cannon, a warlock. I shuddered when a memory of me hacking at something with the Termination Breaker Sword like a crazed maniac.
"Wait- that doesn't make sense!" Nibutani exclaimed. "He is a magical person but he doesn't exhibit traits like those. He seems lazy and off-putting! He has morals sure, but not enough to call him 'just', and passion has never touched his face the entire time I've known him!"
"Exactly the reason why I am stumped!" Dekomori exclaimed. "Even Mori Summer agrees with me!"
"Yes it is quite odd" Rikka muttered
"So what do we try to do?" I asked. "He dodges questions all of the time, and I doubt this will be any different."
"He did ask you to meet him, do you know where he lives?" Nibutani asked
I felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of my face. "Not...exactly?"
Rikka looked me dead in the eyes. "He lives right under you. Did you not notice the fluctuation power coming from the apartment below you?"
I started sweating more. "W-well I was never much of a sensory type when I was the Dark Flame Master, and I'm still grasping my old powers-"
"Nonsense, your senses were unrivaled as you were a hunter of the highest caliber with the help of the Dragon residing within your arm" Rikka cut me off.
Nibutani laughed a little. "Come on Yuuta! Have you never noticed that his aura is constantly changing? He is practically sending up flares every breath he takes. Even I can notice that"
"Ok so maybe I never noticed..." I started. "In theory what would that mean?"
"You're an incompetent fool that can't understand magic a monkey could pull off" Dekomori snorted.
Oh boy...
BLACK FLAME DRAGON! Help me out this one time bud! Come on, I've kept you safe in my arm and! And, I have made sure to keep you well-groomed!
I heard a growl in my head, the almost sounded like the dragon was telling me what I was saying was a load of bull but would do it anyway.
Suddenly my senses flared, searching and seeking.
Rika gave off some very ancient feeling magic. Noted. Almost reminded me of a library, just slightly darker and dustier.
Dekomori just reeked of death. Almost scary how such a small girl could be so...dealy feeling.
Kumin had just a shining halo over her head, and I don't plan to question it.
Nibutani held this strangely tinted aura that looked like it should have been pure. I could almost see loose chains around it.
Now done with checking out(Scratch that, that sounds weird because I'm the only guy in the room) my clubmates, I tried to sense other high doses of magic, not entirely sure how, all I knew was to do. If that makes sense.
Suddenly my gaze(sense?) was drawn in by a large feeling.
When I found it, there was no doubt in my mind that it was H. Time seemed to be ruptured around the magic his body was letting out, and it felt like there was a looming deathly feeling hanging over his.
Then out of the blue, it was cut off, and he more resembled something like a human, but it still felt old.
He stopped moving, and for a second I saw his face clear in my mind. "If you want to see, find me in person"
I felt like I was rammed back into my body.
"Yuuta! Are you alright?" I looked up and saw Rikka was staring down at me. Wait, down?
When I was 'forced' back I had fallen over. "That guy is a different breed, are you sure we should be involved with him?"
Rikka's eye lit up. "That's it! He isn't an Exalt or Nemah! He is quite literally a different breed!"
"Back up a minute!" I called out after we had returned to our old seating. "How? I thought there were only two magic races"
"Oh, that is far from correct, Dark Flame Master. We were clear when we said dominant and that they were humanoid. But it is possible due to some form of cross-breeding, that an all-new race was created and he could be the first of that race!" Rikka exclaimed.
"Or his curse could play a role in that," I said. "He mentioned his curse was different"
"So you think he is some kind of cursed, half or whatever breed?" Nibutani asked
"Indeed," Rikka and Dekomori said in synch with a nod.
"What if he is just one or the other, and the events he had suffered had caused him to change his nature?" Nibutani asked. "He already seems to ignore several laws of magic so I wouldn't be surprised if he had found a way to mix the powers of both without showing any obvious signs"
"Yeah. I'll find out on Sunday" I said. "Hopefully in one piece"
.
Sunday had come to be just a tad too quickly for my liking.
Nibutani had been held up because she had learned the reason she had joined the club, the large book Dekomori had(which was written by her), yeah she had wanted to destroy it. Now she just asked Dekomori to hide all of the copies and spent the day honing her magic.
As for the other girls I gave them a notebook I had found when I was researching for any spells I may have forgotten. It held the location of a portal that could lead to where the demons with the scale were but only opened at a certain time of day.
That left me and a set of stairs between someone I hardly know.
When I walked down and knocked he didn't answer...for an hour.
So I pulled a Rikka, I went to the store and bought some heavy-duty rope, I knocked for another 30 minutes to make sure he didn't suddenly get ready to let me in after I bought the rope, walked over to my balcony, then I threw the rope down and entered through his balcony.
His apartment was...bare, to say the least. It hardly looked like anyone lived in it. Fairly dark and the only sign of life was the table that had a bowl of fruit and a bottle of half-drunken water.
"Hey H! I'm here!" I called out as I stood near the table awkwardly.
H, who was in the bathroom popped his head out, and only his head. His hair was forced back into a small ponytail, he was shirtless and also had a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. The scene would have been funny if I wasn't about to demand him to spill his secrets.
"Yo, on' sec!" He greeted, spat out the teeth cleaning remains, and took out his hair.
He walked out(still shirtless might I add) and waltzed over to the kitchen. "You want some breakfast?"
"It's 3 pm" I deadpanned
"Oh score! I woke up earlier than yesterday" He joked, flashing me a forced grin.
"I'm alright with the food, thanks for the offer, you got a soda or anything?" I asked
"Uh yeah. I got root beer, cola, and some kinda Ramune drink" He said. "I also got orange juice"
"I'll take some orange juice" After I finished saying that, he tossed me a small bottle.
He walk back into the dining area with an orange juice of his own and grabbed a pear from the bowl. He spoke, "Oblivions Introduction" and the same black energy swirled around the pear, once he pulled it back, he bit into the pear.
"You're not going to wash that?"
"Oh, I just used some magic to clean it up, I don't want to go back into the kitchen" He replied as he took another bite. "So hit me, what do you want to know?"
"What is your name?" I asked, hoping he doesn't speak Korean next.
"Hisoki" He replied before a look of surprise crossed his face. "Wow they let me say it, I was expecting roman this time"
Hisoki huh? Japanese origin and means Secretive and/or Reserved. Almost fits him well.
"Well, that's the name of my host anyway" He continued. "My name was lost in time so I just kinda chill with that name"
I spat out some orange juice. "Your what?!"
Hisoki was too busy complaining about the orange juice to even realize he had said he would be answering my questions. "Come on man! I just cleaned this table. It was bad enough a demon fight destroyed my old one last week now I gotta clean this one again. I'm so glad I took off my white shirt before this"
"Uh hello! You can't just drop the bomb 'my host' so causally! Especially without any background context!" I nearly yelled at him
"Oh right." He hit the top right of his head playfully. "My bad. Yeah, I didn't have my own physical body when I came here at the time, so I found this young boy who had 'caught' Chuunibou because he was terminally ill. I offered to heal him and grant him power beyond his wildest dreams if he would host my soul"
"You did what? So that poor boy is stuck with you inside his body? Do you even let him control the body?"
"Oh yeah, all the time. We have basically the same personality so it was fine, you can't even tell when we switch. In fact, I switched mid-sentence 5 times"
I stared at him. He had to be crazy. There is no way-
"Anyway, I assume you want to know my origins and the details of my curse?"
"No! I mean yes! But I still want more details about you possessing a small child's body!"
" First off he isn't small, he was like 12 when I found him. Second, as Rikka predicted, I'm not an Exalt or Nemah. I am the last one of a different race." He started. "Elementals. My father was an earth elemental while my mother was a demon. Wait does that make me a new breed? Like Demonic Elemental? Whatever, I'm an elemental centered mage"
"So you are a halfbreed, just not what we expected-" I started when I realized he said his mom was a demon. "Your mother was a WHAT?"
"I find it shocking that was your immediate question, like not even What the heck is an elemental? Elementals are a humanoid race that died out when the Dark Organization took over, the other races kinda forgot they existed even though we were the most skilled within elemental magic."
"I'm sorry it's just...demon mom?" I asked, still hungover about that fact. "How does that even work, I thought demons weren't the most humanoid creatures around"
"Yeah, Demon, big whop. Let's just say she looked half woman and half something else *cough snake cough*. Anyway, back onto my powers, the earthy magic from my father and the more unnatural demonic energy from my mother merged and altered itself. It gave me control over two things that no being but a god should have any kind of hold over"
I pondered for a moment. "Matter. You can create and destroy matter, what is the other?"
He scoffed. "Slight control over time, but it sucked because the most I could do is rewind it to the past thirty minutes"
"Time?!" I exclaimed. "That is so freaking OP!"
"Not OP enough to save my world. Beside's...this is where my curse comes in"
"What is it?"
"The curse of Forgetfulness." He scowled. "My abilities had enough drawbacks on their own like, to create any matter I had to destroy it first or that matter would be taken from my body. And time had damn near killed me if I used it more than once for anything longer than 5 seconds "
"That's rough buddy" Not caring all too much that I had inadvertently quoted one of the most popular memes centered around the man with a large scar and a bad family life.
"Yeah, the curse broke my powers even more but subjected me to serval mental problems. It allowed me to 'forget' the rules of magic and my limits so now I could spam my powers as long as I want without drawbacks. I could just create and destroy, not to mention rewind time." He shrugged. "I got stuck with a massive inferiority complex, a never-ending lack of motivation to do anything, becoming a tad bipolar, and forever destined to be alone because no one could remember me."
"That... is a lot..." I stammered.
"Yeah, anyway I was promoted to the status of god before long, giving me another boost in the physical department, that was the most they could do, I already had a broken power. When it came to whole group godly affairs, I was always left out, because you could imagine, I was forgotten. But when they could remember me, they claimed I just never showed cuz I was lazy or actually planning on betraying them."
"Wait, so you were that single god that wasn't at the meeting you mentioned?"
"Yup, they left me behind, even the Organization forgot me when they came to get rid of us" He threw the pear center towards the trash can and it fell in. "They killed all of the stronger gods and Chunnierized all the weaker ones, besides the ones that resisted"
"All of them but you..." I said.
"Yes, I used my power to transfer here because I knew there were a few mages living here, and separated from my godly form to not cause their sensors to go off, and I happened to stumble upon Hisoki." He held his hands up. "And the rest is history."
I took a sip of juice. "Wait you said the weaker ones got Chunnierized! Are there any around? Could you possibly free them?"
"Nope. All of them are dead. Once your Chunnierized, you get cut off from your powers. You'd have to come into very close contact with magic to loosen your seal to let others know what you are as I did with you" He lifted his right hand and pointed at it, coating it in metal. "The train wasn't the first time you saw this. But my point is-" His eyes grew stormy. "because of their lack of powers, their immortality was cut off and they died of sicknesses or old age"
I paused to digest what he said. "So what are Hisoki's magic origins?"
"None, 100 percent human." He said. "Yeah, he had a very mild case, he thought he was smarter than everyone around him. It slowly grew into thinking he was housing a demon that was slowly killing him, and he offered himself as a sacrifice to protect everyone around him because it was the 'only' way"
"Was he?"
"If you call a mutated flu virus killing a boy a 'demon' then yes, in sense he was right because he stuck through it didn't spread and I came along to kill it."
"So why do you live alone?" I asked, starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with the magic talk.
"Oh, Hisoki's parents died in a demon fight." He said before taking a sip from his juice. "Pretty brutal if you ask me, they exploded, I had to deal with Hisoki's nightmares for months. Just as long as it took me to clean the mess"
"Wow..." A little peeved I couldn't escape the darkness that trails behind anything magic with this guy.
"Yeah." He snapped his fingers and he was suddenly wearing casual clothes. "You never wondered why I speak like a normal person unlike Rikka or anything?"
"Not really, but now I'm a bit curious," I said.
"That's because of good ole Hisoki, he wasn't shunned like some people around here because he had a mild case, so he had a few friends. He thought me modern Japanese...although sometimes I slip up."
"I see, I bet Rikka will be so surprised-" I started but was silenced with a single hand being raised.
"Don't tell the others yet, I want to surprise them, besides I'm sure you will know exactly who I am when I give you my godly title."
"Doubtful but ok" I snorted
Suddenly I heard a loud crashing noise outside. Hisoki grabbed a silver ring from the counter, put it on, and reached out to me. "Let's go check on her."
I took his extended hand and he twisted the ring on his finger, the world distorted around us, and the next thing I knew we were outside.
"It's better than my usual smoke cloud" He shrugged as I rushed over to a large indentation in the sidewalk.
A slightly battered Rikka was in the center of it groaning a little bit when she noticed us she shot up and pointed to the right. "Dark Flame Master! Mr. H! We are humbly requesting your assistance!"
I looked over to where she was pointing and saw a large plant-like creature that looked like something entangled in vines, the body was rather straight and vines had erupted(and still were) shooting out to act as arms for pulling itself around and attacking. The only other visible body part was a large bloodshot eye where I'd assume its face was, and the eye brimming with hatred.
I noticed a small storm of gold I assumed to be Dekomori whaling at it. When the monster's eye slammed shut before slamming all of its limbs into the ground, Dekomori let out a cry of pain I could hear from here, as all of my view of the area was shrouded in dust clouds.
"The town is in danger! We had found a powerful and mutated Flourana! We must get there now!" Rikka exclaimed. "Come with me!"
"Let's go!" I nodded in affirmation.
We both started to form our poses when Hisoki stopped us. "I got this." He pulled a black ring from his pocket and put it on the finger before the one with the silver. First, he twisted the black one, and the world around us shattered. He had activated the overlap with the twist of a ring.
"You just-" Rikka started now in her overlap outfit.
"Not important" He stated, and I noted he was still wearing his old clothes and he twisted the silver one, and once again we were teleported over to an injured Dekomori!
"I'm sorry master, I -I have taken critical damage. I cannot fight anymore" Dekomori said almost too dramatically.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back," Hisoki said before puffing away. This time he returned seconds later with Kumin and Nibutani.
Nibutani held some pompoms that shifted into large shield/blaster-like weapons, made of an intricate golden and bright white metal.
Kumin looked around confused for a few moments. Hisoki leaned over and whispered into her ear and a large grin split her face.
She clapped her hands together and when she pulled her palms away, a green glow came from them. That green light flashed and shifted into white magic circles on her palms and she placed her right hand on the ground with her left hand on top.
A small poof of smoke shot from the ground, someone from earlier had popped up like he had been leaning on something, falling forward onto his face.
"Otoanshi- hey a little warning next time!" Inei Kanashii exclaimed. "I had a bro moment going on!"
"Oh, my bad. Now attack my loyal minion!" Kumin started sounding sincere but shifted to the tone of a crazy woman with power.
"Uh, I'm not your minion but I'll help," Inei said, sounding very off-put.
Hisoki walked over to where Dekomori was laying down trying to recover and spoke clearly.
"Time's Denial" his hand gave off a darker green glow this time, and a small glowing circle that resembled an ancient design of a clock appeared hovering in front of his hand and he twisted it back a little, once he did, a green glow appeared over Dekomori and all of her wounds slowly faded.
She jumped up. "Wow, I feel brand new! It's a deathly good feeling!"
"That's good, my job here is done, you guys can fight that now, I'll take care of the people that could slip in" And then he just walked off. He is one lazy god.
"So Master what is the new plan?" Dekomori asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she swung her newly summoned hammer again.
She pointed towards the eye. "Attacking the vines is in vain unless we can set it on fire, the main target for people without fire like attacks should aim for its eye. If we blind it, it may die or be forced to reveal other parts of its body to make up for its lack of sight, hence we can strike it that way."
"What is your power?" Rikka asked the new guy.
"Well I can create massive bits of electricy, have insane reflexes, and can sprout wings," He said with some thought.
"Your world is truly different from ours" Rikka commented
"To be fair I'm dead" He shrugged can a set of black wings sprouted from his back. Like think of an angle's wings but pure black and far larger than you would expect.
"Woah," Almost everyone said, for a moment taken in by the beauty of the wings.
"You guys can touch it later, and you should see my friend's wings, hers fit her perfectly"
We snapped out from our trance.
"I take pom-poms here up to land a nice ht to the eye," Inei said as he grabbed Nibutani and took off.
The eye of the creature zeroed in on me as I shot forward at it, feeling an old feeling rush into me.
HAHA! You're screwed now! The Dark Flame Master is back!
I shouted out a spell. "Incineration Sniper!"
The black flames quickly shot out of my extended hand, but it made no effect as the monster threw some of its vines at me, in which Rikka jumped in front of me.
"Schwarz Shield!"
"Man my flames had no effect!" I complained to Rikka.
"Then aim for the eye!"
Suddenly I heard a shout coming from the sky. "INCOMING!"
I saw Nibutani, now dressed as her old Mori Summer(like a nun dress), diving down with her twin weapons press together while Inei had put away his wings and large amounts of electricity sparked off his body while he was spinning.
I saw a small burst of electricity from Inei's feet and he slammed into the creature's bottom half, right before Nibutani, the shock from an overhead attack caused the creature to jolt its head up, a fatal mistake on its part. It took Nibutani's attack straight into its open eye, and to add extra damage, she blasted her weapons into the eye as well allowing her to backflip away.
I whistled. and the creature started to unwind itself. Inei, being Inei, jumped up and kicked it knocking it down temporally, but before we could swarm it, a hand shot from the vines and grabbed Inei.
"UH, GUYS! THIS ISNT LOOKING GOOD FOR ME!"
"Use your POWER!" Kumin yelled back to him.
"WHAT DO- Oh right" His eyes glowed a bright white as his hair rose, and more electricity escaped his body. The hand unable to take it dropped him, and then shot up, revealing something very similar to an alien from a popular kids' show. It was still very clearly a plant and bigger than buildings but it was a lot more mobile now.
I charged up another Incineration Sniper and fired it. This time the Flourana set on fire, screaming in pain as it did so. "Guys its defense is weaker now!"
"Oh yeah!" Inei yelled as he shot forward with his supercharged body and tackled the thing, which didn't do much, but it paralyzed it and Nibutani and Dekomori rushed in, to slam its face with their weapons which knocked it over.
Inei, who was straining himself called out to us. "Hurry and take it out! It's trying to grow and I can't keep up this charge for much longer!"
"Be enveloped in the flames of Darkness and disappear!" I yelled as a large dark whirlwind of dark fire shot out and struck the plant, causing it to scream even more.
"Lunatic Mjolnir Crusher!" Dekomore yelled as her hammer had tripled in size and she did two front flips to slam down on it.
"Divine Death!" Nibutani yelled as her weapons began to glow, and shifted into one more cannon-like weapon, which she shot a massive beam of light at the beast.
"Dimensional Rift Borrow!" Kumin squealed as suddenly she sent off a large bolt of electricity from her hands at the monster. I tried my best not to stare as she just pulled that out of thin air.
"By the name of the Eye of the Wicked Lord, I banish thee to hell!" Rikka ripped off her eyepatch as a golden beam shot from her eye, finally, the Flourana couldn't take it anymore and shattered into small polygons.
"Woah! That was far too fun. My memories don't feel the same" I said as I gasped for breath.
"You- you got that right" Nibutani said a smile gracing her face as she panted.
"Do not forget to be afraid you two" Rikka said. "That was a weak monster, albeit a mutated one. Our enemies have highly trained beasts and people trained and created for the sole purpose of our death. But I must give credit where it is due, you both did amazing within that fight. Yuuta you have risen to a magic reading of 100, Shinka despite you just starting yesterday you are already at 75, and Kumin you are astoundingly at 150"
I gasped a little. Kumin, of all the people her had a higher reading than me. Was it because she had channeled Inei's power?
"Well as almost insulting as that was, it was all thanks to you Rikka," I said.
Inei was ecstatic. "HAHA! OH my! That was soo fun! God, invite me again anytime, without warning or with I do not mind in the slightest anymore"
Everyone started laughing.
Inei busted out his wings. "Feel free to touch all you want, just don't go-" He let out a groan(change the gr to an m) that made this whole thing sound very...intimate. Kumin who was stroking his wings eeped and withdrew her hands.
"Sorry!"
"It's fine, it's just...that bits a tad...sensitive," He said red spreading across his checks. "I don't like people touching them there. Maybe I shouldn't have based my wings of Flügel's"
All in all, his wings felt so soft. So astonishingly soft that Kumin almost fell asleep on them.
Eventually, Inei had to leave but promised to be back any day.
As he added we heard slow clapping, like the one you'd expect from a villain.
Thankfully it was just Hisoki. "You guys were...amazing! I think you are ready"
Just then, a screech rang out in the air as a vine erupted from the ground where the monster was but Hisoki shot a bolt of black energy at it, consuming the thing, and continued speaking.
"But you guys must go through one more test to see if you are the chosen ones," He said with an almost sinister grin stretching on his face.