Slayer: Alright hopefully this comes out on time but if not… I don't really care.
Argentum: Wow really?
Slayer: Why are you surprised by this point?
Shadow: He's got a point.
Argentum: Ugh…
Slayer: Sighing is bad for your health!~
Shirone: Mhm.
Argentum: Gosh darn it Slayer.
Mizore: You know you're pretty similar.
Argentum: Don't remind me.
Slayer: Heh. Well let's start the chapter off then. Shadow do your thing!
Shadow: Sure whatever, we here at the Dark Guard productions own nothing but Oc's and reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their original owners. Now without further stupidity…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Dark Inner voice
'Light inner voice'
Thoughts/talking to inner voice
Chapter Four: I will protect
As we left the hotel I was still working on the scripting as we walked towards town. The current plan was to get different clothes to help us blend in. I was quite thankful for my coat, as I was able to hide my weapons from the general populace. I had also just barely gotten done with page three of the scripting so that was well in good.
The bad news? I still had seven pages left and that would take a while. When we made it to the clothes store I ended up getting a dark blue trench coat with a leather cowboy hat and a black long sleeved shirt with regular black sunglasses. I also was now wearing a pair of black khakis that matched my look pretty well. Shirone got a pink mini trench coat with a hood that she decided to wear over her clothes. We also got her a pair white boots. The boots were tied up with black laces. The hood of her coat was lined with fur, and she wore up to conceal her hair. So basically the adorable little thing copied my look, made me want to hug her to death but I refrained.
Looking at her I gave her some tips to fitting in while on the run. "Okay first we're using the names we gave Yuffie last night, second you never look around with a worried face, just keep smiling and look around every once and a while. Remember they're looking for people who seem out of place. Fit in with the crowd, and remain calm that way you'll just blend in and they'll over look you. Do you have any questions?" She thought for a moment but shook her head.
I nodded mine, and started walking in a steady place while working on script. Shirone did what I told her to do but still kept close to me, holding onto my coat. Thinking that the only problem was her eyes I took out some glasses, the lenses were dark and would help hide her eyes. Handing her the glasses I quietly explained what they were for and she put them on.
At one in the afternoon, we decided to stop to eat at some place; we ended up choosing an out of the way ramen stand. It wasn't bad but I knew I could make better stuff. But I let it slide as I paid the bill. As the day passed by I started to feel a little anxious. Things were going smoothly, a bit too smoothly for my tastes. Like I've said before I have paranoia issues, didn't help that my paranoia has always proven true I might add. But I still needed to be strong at the moment; I didn't want to worry the small girl currently hanging off of me. So I didn't let my worry show and kept working on the script. So far I managed to finish up to page five.
Yep all day working on it and I've only done five pages. There was still five left to do as well, this is why I couldn't just sit down and quickly write it all up. To anyone else who looked at what I was writing they'd just see random squiggles, numbers, and shapes. But in truth it was a highly calculated and complicated system. The language of which I was writing was actually Voidric.
Or the language of the void, highly powerful and interesting, yet so amazingly complicated it took pages to write a single chapter! That's right I've only written two whole paragraphs in Voidric so far! I decided to talk to the Outsider about this later, there had to be a better way to do all this. I mean you could use freaking Abyssal to write a whole book on a napkin! And… why is it so quiet? I looked up when I noticed a lack of noise. Looking around I could see that we were in an empty street. I cursed myself silently for being so careless. Pulling Shirone behind me I let out my senses.
I was able to feel something right behind me as I blinked both of us away. Looking back to where we were before was Horace the reincarnated knight. He was holding a red and black broad sword. Apparently he tried to cut off my head but since I teleported, all he got was empty space. Turning around I saw the other three fly down with their wings and joined him on the ground.
Vex the bishop was the one to first address me. "Well now look who we've found!" He snarled at us in detest. "The traitor and the runaway cat! I have some good news for all of ya'll.~ You don't have to run anymore! Since we'll be killing you right here and…" He never finished what he was going to say since I being me, decided to take out my pistol and shoot him in the face. Blood spilled everywhere as he quickly died despite his healing abilities.
My pistol was after all made for things much stronger and bigger than he was, couldn't help but smirk as blood echoes flew to me. What I've told you before I don't care for monologues. However my actions brought shocked faces from everyone even Shirone. But I just shrugged my shoulders before answering the unspoken question.
"Don't blame me! We're fighting and he was doing a monologue, it was a perfect opportunity to take him out. To be perfectly honest it was a tactically sound move." I looked at Shirone who ended up nodding her head in agreement. Patting her adorable head, I turned back towards the remaining three devils who were now enraged. "What are you so angry about? Weren't you the ones who decided to kill me and Shirone? Besides I told Xenolith what would happen if he sent anyone after us." I could tell they were about to attack so I turned to Shirone.
"Listen I need you back up and hide behind something. This will probably get messy." She nodded and ran behind a post man delivery box and peeked out behind it. Satisfied that she was out of the way enough I put a hand on my sword and drew it. The blade sparkled a bit in the remaining sun light. I took off my sunglasses and put them away, I then glared at them. "So who wants to go first?"
Enraged with the death of one of their peerage member the two rooks and knight charged at me. The time to talk was over, now it was time to fight. Horace with his "knightly" speed was the first to reach me. Swinging at my right side I quickly blocked it with my own blade. Sparks cascaded to the ground as we held our swords together.
He was a little bit faster than me, but I was stronger and more durable. So pushing our blades upwards I shoved him back a bit took a slash at his stomach. Managing to roll backwards the two rooks attacked me as he recovered. Grabbing Yuno's right arm I tossed her into Ferris. Ferris twisted out of the way and grabbed Yuno, bringing her back down to the ground.
Together they threw punches and kicks; I could tell that they were stronger than me. But I was faster than them. I frowned at that thought, while this was good for me. The fact that there were two people stronger than me and someone faster than me put me at a disadvantage. Ducking underneath a punch I slashed upwards with my sword. Only to be blocked by Horace, gritting my teeth I pointed my gun at him. As I pulled the trigger Horace moved his head to the side. Using the small distraction I fired at the two rooks.
Forcing them to dodge as I kept them at bay. Teleporting back I fired at all three of them before reloading. As expected they all managed to dodge. Mark glowing I waved my hand at them creating a powerful gust of wind. While Ferris and Horace managed to get out of the way. I managed to launch Yuno into a light post. As she broke it in half I raised my sword, blocking Horace as he unleashed a flurry of blows on me. Thinking quickly I blinked behind him, making him stumble. As I swung at his exposed back I felt Ferris jump up to kick me.
Smirking I teleported away again, using her as a weapon to attack the knight. With a crack she sent him flying as her eyes widened. Before I could take more advantage of this Yuno punched me in the side. Gritting my teeth as I felt my ribs break I locked her arm with my sword arm. As her eyes widened I pointed my pistol right between her eyes.
"Say goodnight!" Pulling the trigger, her head jerked back as the bullet went right through her skull. Letting the rook go I took out a blood vial and injected it into me. As I felt my ribs heal, I looked at the two on the ground still recovering before turning to Shirone. Smiling softly at her I spoke in the same way to calm her down. "Don't worry, I promised to protect you, and I'm going to keep that promise." She smiled at me as I turned back to my opponents. Reloading I spoke to them. "I'll give you this one last chance to surrender." Horace glared at me while Ferris yelled at me in fury.
"Surrender? Surrender?! You just killed my sister you bastard! I'll kill you!" As she rushed forward I took aim as Horace yelled for her to stop. "Die!" As I fired she rolled forward and dugged her hands into the ground. Gripping the concrete sidewalk slab before tossing it at me. This time my eyes widened as I slashed forward, cutting the slab in half. As it flew by me Ferris kicked out, catching me in the guy and sending me flying. As I spat out blood and rolled across the ground, Horace charged in. Firing a few times as I rolled, the knight skillfully dodged before raising his sword. When I heard the click of my gun I slammed my marked hand on the ground.
Freezing the top layer with ice, unfortunately for Horace he fell for my trap. Falling down on the ice as I reloaded, rolling out of the way of Ferris' axe kick. I grabbed Horace and pointed my gun at his temple. Firing and then tossing his body at the rook. Ferris caught Horace as I fired at her once again. I was actually impressed when she used his body as a shield. Standing up I reloaded once again, my breath now heavy as I took another blood vial. Her red eyes were glaring at me in hate.
My red eyes were simply looking at her in determination. I knew only one of us would walk out of this fight alive. And I'm going to make sure it's me! Waving my marked hand, I created a bunch of icicles that launched at the rook. As she twirled out of the way I blinked next to her, slashing with my sword. However she had picked up Horace's sword, and was now using it to deflect my slashes. As got into a lock I blinked behind her and slashed at her neck. She ducked and swung up at me. Jumping back I fired my gun, only for Ferris to use the flat of Horace's sword as a shield.
I was running out of magic energy to deal with the rook. I knew I'd have to try someone completely new to finish her off. Taking a breath I put away my gun and gripped my sword's handle. My enemies eyes widened as I pulled down on it, increasing its length to three feet. Brandishing the polearm I rushed forward. Swinging the blade towards her neck. Ferris blocked it with her sword, knowing she would do this I swung out with the bottom of my weapon. Hitting her knees and making her wince as she fell. Tackling her I got out my gun again and aimed it right between her eyes.
Despite our positions she glared up at me still. "Do it." Narrowing my eyes I did as she commanded. Putting a bullet into her head, blood splattering my cheek. With the battle now over and I having collected all available blood echoes. I rolled to my feet and walked back over to Shirone. Wiping the blood off my face with my sleeve as I knelt in front of her.
"Are you okay?" She nodded before launching at me with a hug.
"I was soo scared! I thought… I thought you were going to die!" Returning her hug and patting the Nekoshou's back I spoke softly.
"Hey what did I say earlier? I'm going to protect you, I can't do that if I'm dead now can I?" Sniffling she nodded her head, petting the top of her head I picked her up. "Well it's been a long day, how about we go find somewhere to sleep and eat?" Her only response was to nod her head as I carried her. "Alright then, let's go do that."
After a bit of walking she finally asked me a question. "When we get there can you tell me who you are? I only really know your name." This time I nodded my head in response.
"Sure! I'll tell you everything sweetie." With my words she snuggled deeper into my arms.
Welcome to this line break!
We ended up staying at another hotel and I told her about what I was and how I could do what I do. Instead of scaring the adorable little girl, she instead looked at me in wonder. Apparently she found my abilities and story rather amazing. During that night I also converted the blood echoes I obtained into my own power. Surprisingly the four I defeated had quite a lot of power.
I was now faster than a knight and stronger than a rook. Lucky me that Xenolith only had one knight and bishop left. Although his queen will probably be rather difficult to beat along with he himself but... if I could get rid of the last bishop and knight along with the pawns… I should be able to have enough power to beat them both.
The key word being "should"… I had no idea how strong they really were. So instead I thought of a different plan. If I can complete the script for Shirone than I could send her to my hunters dream and not have to worry about her safety. That way I could focus on the fight with no distractions. I frowned at that thought, mostly because I doubted I'd have enough time to do such a thing.
If I'm being honest here, if I could I would've taken Shirone and never bother with Xenolith ever again. Unfortunately! He was able to contact me and send me his dimensions coordinates. Which only means he can also travel dimensions, in other words Shirone won't be safe until he's dead or has given up. But seeing how he was acting I knew that wouldn't happen. Scowling I went back to working on the scripting, there was only three pages left to go.
The next day we left and did pretty much what we did yesterday, except now I paid attention to any empty streets while working on the script. This made the process slower but it allowed me to be more observant. Which in truth was all that really mattered; I was personally hoping to get through this day without conflict so I could get Shirone to safety before going after Xenolith's head.
Hopefully that would send a big enough message telling everyone to back off. But a peaceful day was not to be when I sensed some devils nearby. However they hadn't seemed to notice us yet, so picking up Shirone in a one armed hug, I blinked to the top of a building. Couching down and peering over the edge I was able to see five blue coated figures that were looking for us. That meant everyone besides Xenolith; this was fine with me since this let me have the opportunity to take them out quietly.
However at this distance I couldn't tell which one was the strongest. If I could take out the bishop and pawns quietly enough I could more easily handle the knight and queen. Scowling I tried to figure out which one was the queen. That was when Shirone spoke up to me.
"I think that ones the queen over there." She pointed out to the one that was talking to some people. More than likely trying to get information on our whereabouts, still I looked at Shirone in confusion.
"How do you know that ones the queen?" She seemed to think for a bit before answering me.
"If I concentrate I can feel ones power, emotions, and personalities through sensing their chakra. You see we yokai use chakra in order to use our senjutsu and youjutsu. At least that's what my sister told me before…" She trailed off with a sad look so I put my arm around her shoulders.
"Don't worry it's okay, I'll trust your word that that's the queen. In fact… I'm rather impressed you can tell that she's the strongest. I myself would have to be up close to them to feel that, although I am quite able to sense aura's from long ways off. This is how I found you in the first place so great work." She blushed at my praise, and I turned to pick my first target.
Now that I knew which one was the queen I could take the others out stealthily enough. My first target was one who Shirone told me was weaker than the rest. So I had to guess it was a pawn. Currently the pawn was closing in on an alley. The perfect place to silence him, picking the Neko up again I jumped and blinked over to the alley. When the pawn was in front of the entrance I struck. Grabbing him and putting my hand over his mouth and stabbing him through the heart with my sword. Soon enough he stopped struggling and I extracted my sword and laid him against the alleys wall.
"One down four to go." Motioning for Shirone to follow me up a nearby ladder we once again made it to the top of a building.
I quickly looked over at her when we made it. "You okay?" She seemed a bit shaken from seeing me kill someone like I had but she otherwise looked fine.
"Don't worry I'll be fine, I just want this all to be over." I reached over and gave the young girl a hug.
"You and me both, for now though I need to know if you can identify the Bishop. With it out of the way we can focus more on the rest without worrying that it'll heal them." Taking a deep breath she looked out over everyone and started to concentrate. After a few minutes her eyes stopped moving, and she quickly pointed out to something.
"There! The one peering around that building, I feel a stronger magical presence coming from that one." I nodded more than likely that was the Bishop, especially if Shirone didn't say it felt the strongest. Picking her up again I repeated the process with the pawn. Except now I threw the body into a large trash can. I would do what I did before but… Than her body, for this bishop was a she, would be visible to everyone since this was right to the side of a building. Luckily however I'm quite fast and was able to hide it before anyone noticed. I looked at Shirone and she was glancing around nervously.
"I can feel them starting to get antsy, more than likely it's from not being able to communicate with those we've killed."
After hearing her say that I gave her a stern look which surprised her. "Shirone listen to me, you haven't killed anyone remember that. Any death that's happened is on mine and Xenolith's hands. You are completely innocent in any of this. Do you understand?" She looked down but nodded. Feeling bad for upsetting her I went up to her and started petting her head. She looked up at me with a confused expression. "I'm not mad at you, I just need you to know that none of this is your fault. You've just got caught up in all of this. Your hands are clean, and I want to try and keep them that way for as long as possible. Now then let's get back to it. If you can point out the next pawn that'll be great." Gaining a determined look she concentrated and pointed out to me another pawn.
This one was worried and was running around with frantic haste. He was obviously trying to find us before we found him, although he failed in that regard. Grabbing Shirone's hand I led us over to the pawn with a calm and neutral walk. This allowed us to blend in with the crowd as I moved towards my target.
When we were close enough I grabbed his shoulder and blinked to the top of a building. I quickly threw him to the ground but I didn't kill him, right now I decided to get some answers out of him.
"No please don't kill me! I don't want to die!" Or at least I would try to get some answers if he wasn't freaking out.
Rolling my eyes I went up to him and slapped him. "Snap out of it! Look if you cooperate I won't kill! Do we have a deal?" He nodded his head although he was still whimpering. "Alright now I need to know how you keep finding us."
Somehow he was able to answer me without stuttering. "Master Xenolith is able to sense your general location by feeling out the blood of the devils you've killed. They were a part of our peerage so it's only natural for him to feel what's left of his servants." I nodded my head to what he said, it made sense.
"Okay then, now tell me why you're still after Shirone." This question would help me determine whether or not to kill him.
He thought for a bit before answering me. "I'm after her because my master Xenolith told me to go after her, and to disobey his orders means death. Please if it were up to me I would leave her alone I swear!" I nodded my head again; some rulers think it's better to be feared than to be loved after all.
"Okay last question, tell me the abilities of your last knight and your queen. After that you can leave this area. Just know that if I find you again I will kill you." He quickly nodded his head before answering me and getting up.
"Well the knight's name is Ruben. Now despite him being a knight he doesn't use a sword instead he uses throwing chakram's. They're enchanted to return to the thrower. Using his speed he can use them rather effectively. He also has an eleven inch dagger just in case."
I pondered this for a bit and motioned for him to continue. "As for the queen her name is Sherry. Unlike the rest of us her power comes from the use of manipulating wind. A rare ability for devils, but powerful nonetheless." I grimaced, because apparently my wind abilities would be useless against her. "However she thinks she can take you by herself, and let's pride rule her actions most of the time. Sorry but that's everything I can tell you right off the top of my head."
I nodded to him and gave him my thanks. "That information will have to do, you have my thanks for that at least."
He shrugged at my words. "Yeah to be honest I'm just glad to be out of this peerage. Xenolith has always been a bit of a loose cannon, and he was starting to worry me." He then looked at Shirone. "For what it's worth I'm sorry for what we've done. But here! Take this." Reaching into a coat pocket he got out two fingerless black leather gloves. Shirone looked at them with surprise but took them from him. "Yes those are your sister's gloves, I was going to use them but I think you should have them."
She looked at him with a grateful smile. "Thank you I'll remember this." Seeing this brought a smile to my face and I extended out my hand. He looked at it before grabbing it, we shook hands for a bit before letting go.
"Anyway my name is Tylor and it was good to meet you." He turned to leave but he stopped and turned back to us. "There is one last thing you should know. Everyone you've faced so far has been a reincarnated devil. Ruben and Sherry are full blooded devils. That means they'll be much stronger than the others. So be careful and watch out." I nodded my head before he took off leaving me much to think about. Quickly I increased my power with the blood I got from the other bishop and pawn. Surprisingly the pawn was the one that gave me the most power. I'd have to check into that later though.
Turning to Shirone I saw her try to put the gloves on, frowning it turned out they were about five sizes too big for her. "If you want I can make them smaller for you." Looking at me she gave a grateful smile as she handed me the gloves.
"Thanks I don't want to lose them." I nodded and used the size charm until they were the right size for her. After which I handed them back and she put them on.
"Just tell me when they start getting small and I will make them bigger again." She nodded her head and we both approached the edge of the building. By now it was starting to get late, and the people below were starting to filter out of the street. Soon we wouldn't be able to hide ourselves.
I decided it would be best for them to come to us, so we waited to see if they would find us. I worked on the scripting while Shirone decided to do some training. Apparently the gloves gave the wearer increased punching power. While she was doing punching and kicking I chimed in every once and a while to give her some pointers. For her age she wasn't too bad, give it two years and I believe she could give inner Moka a run for her money.
Of course that was if she was on her own; with me it might be much quicker. I like to think I'm a pretty good martial artist. Heck I throw some in with my swordsmanship. It was about another hour later she stopped and sat down next to me to rest. To be honest things were starting to get boring…
You said it. I frowned when I heard her voice for two reasons. First it had been a few days since she's spoken to me. Secondly she didn't sound as angry as usual.
It's been a while, everything going okay in there?
Yeah I'm fine… oh two devils are heading our way.
Wait what? Sure enough the last two devils following us landed on the roof of the building. Sighing I stood up and stretched a bit.
"So you've finally shown up, took you long enough. You know we've been waiting here for the past hour and concrete isn't exactly comfortable. So are we going to do this the easy way? Or the hard way where I send you back to Xenolith in pieces?" Their answers were to get ready to fight me. The one I assumed was Ruben took out two metal circles that had serrated edges.
I could correctly assume those were his Chakram's. While the other held out her palm and a tiny tornado appeared in it. Telling Shirone to back off to the side so she wouldn't get involved, I took out my sword and waited. Ruben came at me first, in a burst of speed he ran to my side while throwing his left chakram at me.
I quickly batted it aside and rolled to the left to dodge a wind drill heading towards my face. I scowled as Ruben's chakram came back to his hand just like how Tylor said it would. He caught it and threw both of them at me. I weaved through them and blinked out of the way of a large blast of wind. I needed to take out Ruben since he was probably the weakest up close.
So blinking over to him I started hacking away at his defense. However he was able to use his chakram's to block my attacks. Although I could hear him grunting in exertion, before I could break through though. Another air drill made me break off my attack. I bit back a curse as I had to keep dodging wind drills chakram's. I had to find a way to disarm him. Thinking quickly I pulled out my pistol and started to fire at him, I wasn't able to kill him but I was able to injure his right leg. With his speed halved and no bishop to heal him I could more easily take him out. If only I could get past this wind throwing maniac!
Looking back to her I could see that she aimed right where I was, however it was the rate of which she could fire that got me. After a moment of thought, I decided that I could use this to my advantage; waiting until Ruben threw his chakram's again I blinked right in front of him. Swinging my sword at him in a flurry of hacks and slashes. He received a couple more cuts but was able to dodge most of my attacks. However this time there was no wind shooting at me. Because I was directly in between Ruben and Sherry, with our positions where they were, Sherry couldn't send off another wind blast or else she might hit him now that he didn't have his full speed.
Hearing the chakram's getting close I once extended the handle of my sword out. Using the length I grabbed the blades out of the air before he could grab them. Blinking away I put them both into my infinite pocket making it impossible for him to get them back. Growling he took out his dagger and charged at me. Twirling around my staff sword I turned it back to normal before blocking his quick knife swings.
Smiling I aimed a stab at him which he jumped back to avoid. Expecting that I extended my weapon again only to impale him. He coughed out some blood but smiled at me and grabbed the blade of the sword.
"Now Sherry!" Realizing what was happening I let go of my weapon and blinked away. Just in time for a large air drill to fly right past me. Scowling I took out my pistol as Ruben took the sword out of his stomach. Still smiling he tossed it into the air and Sherry used another powerful wind screw to break it in half. Swordless I now took aim at them with my pistol.
Ruben started laughing at me. "That's what you get for taking my chakram's boy!" He continued to laugh so I blinked behind him and fired my gun at his heart. He must have been rather lucky because he moved to the side at the last second, but it still blew off his right arm. He was now screaming in pain and holding his stump, I backed off while the queen ran to him firing wind blasts at me.
I was able to get a breather when she kneeled down to examine the knight's wounds. Normally I would go ahead and shoot them while they were distracted, but I could feel something a little different this time. Ruben was bleeding out and dying. Though if Sherry continued I would give her the same fate, at that moment the least I could do was let them have one final moment together. Looking over to Shirone, I blinked over to her to make sure they didn't try anything while my guard was down.
I also popped another blood vial just in case. Though used to the injection I still winced, wishing that I could use them like others did. Would have made things a lot easier for me, however my stomach for some reason couldn't stand the stuff. So instead I opted for direct injection. Looking back to my opponents I listened to what they were saying.
"Ruben! You can't die here! Master Xenolith still needs us to complete this mission." His body was now slightly curled up on the ground while Sherry looked over him. "We're full blooded devils you can survive this!" Ruben started laughing but that stopped when he started coughing, I could see him cough out some blood as well. He wasn't going to make it and he knew it.
"Sorry, but I'm about done here. At this point you have a chance to beat him without his sword. But I'd feel better if you just left, this man is much more than we first realized." After killing pretty much their whole peerage they just now finally realize that?
I wonder when our opponents will stop underestimating us. It would be a rather nice change.
I actually sort of agree with you there. While it does allow us to get some good early hits in, it is annoying to be constantly considered weak. My thoughts were interrupted by the knights coughing.
"Remember one thing Sherry, the deaths of our friends aren't his fault." Now that was something I didn't expect. "Like us he's doing this for someone else's happiness. He's like us in a way; after all we're only doing this for master Xenolith." Closing my eyes I decided to at least tell him there's no hard feelings between us.
So I spoke out to him. "If it's any consolation… any at all, know that I wish it didn't have to be this way." He laughed before coughing again.
"You and me both, the only difference is that you're not dying right now." Okay I had to give a few points for that one. However I could tell he'll expire in a few more seconds; the lights of life in his eyes were slowly leaving him. "Well I guess it's time to see where we go when we die. The last… great…. Journey….." He trailed off saying that before closing his eyes for the last time.
I hate killing people like this, I truly do. Every time I do I feel as though what little piece of my humanity is lost each time. No doubt if we weren't on opposites sides… Me and Ruben probably could have been friends. Still I took advantage of the lull in combat, to quickly get out the katana they gave me for just showing up. In hindsight that probably wasn't a good idea on their part but no matter.
After a while she finally stood up and looked at me with a tired expression. "It seems as though you've won for now then. I'll leave you be if you let me take Ruben's body out of here." I sighed and sheaved my sword and nodded in her direction. She gave me a small sad smile. "It seems as though you were telling the truth about not wanting to fight us, and yet we've attacked the both of you over and over again." She closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "Listen I'm…" She was abruptly interrupted when a golden spear stabbed into her. All of us stared in shock at what happened. She tried moving her hands to remove the spear from her chest, but she wasn't able to bring her hands all the way up. Looking behind her was a man wearing a red long coat holding up the golden spear.
Her eyes widened even more as she recognized the figure. "Master Xenolith why?" I couldn't believe it! Her own king or master killed her, and for what?! To just kill a little girl who couldn't defend herself? Okay scratch that any human would be beaten into a bloody pulp including some of the weaker yokai.
But this was unacceptable! Yelling in anger I dashed forward while drawing my blade. Xenolith just kicked Sherry's body off his spear; this made me stop as I caught her. Already the blood echoes from the fallen queen and knight were being absorbed by my being but I didn't care about that right now. Focusing my anger on Xenolith I questioned him as to what he was doing.
"Why?! Why did you kill her?! I thought she was part of your peerage?! Your friend?! Your family?!" He just laughed at my questioning like a typical villain. Something that just made me angrier, but this time I wanted to know why he's doing this so I waited for him to speak.
"She was weak and getting in the way of my revenge! The same as you boy!" Revenge now what in the void was he talking about now. I guess my face showed my confusion because he decided to answer my question. "I doubt you or the girl knew this but the one Kuroka killed was actually my brother." I inwardly groaned when hearing this, apparently this guy was a typical psychotic avenger. Don't get me wrong some of them aren't too bad; it's when they decide revenge is more important than anything else that gets me.
"You see Kuroka took my brother so I'll take her sister. It was all going according to plan to, I managed to call on the manhunt, I managed to call in an execution, and I managed to call you in!" This is when his voice turned angry. "But you were different than those I've tricked before! You saw through my deceptions; you were the one to decide to make his own choice and chose to protect the girl! It was you that foiled all my plans!" Sighing as he continued to rant I laid Sherry's body down and looked at Shirone with a bored expression.
She got what my look was saying and shrugged. Taking a deep breath I decided to do what I'm mostly known for… Interrupting monologues! Huh I hope my habits won't be a bad influence on Shirone. Seeing how he was still ranting I quickly empowered myself with the dead queen's and knight's echoes. At this point I was now able to fight on the same level as Xenolith. So turning around with an unamused expression, I blinked in front of him and gave him a hard left right into the face. The result was quite desired, that being him flying across the rooftop to only clutch his now broken nose.
At this I decided to talk to him while he was currently down. "Listen I get it you want revenge, but seriously you didn't have to rant on and on about it. Like I've told my other opponents I don't care for overly long monologues. Just get you point across so we can fight." Using my new found speed I rushed him and tried to kick him.
However now recovered from my surprise punch, he pushed himself out of the way and backed off to get some distance. Taking off his now cracked mask I could finally see his face. He had tan skin, black hair, and silver eyes. His nose was currently bleeding most likely from my punch, but besides that he had a rugged look to him. He also looked young about in his late twenties at the most. But seeing how he was a full blooded devil, his age could be much greater.
Using his thumb, he snapped his nose back into place and snarled at me while hefting his spear into a Bo stance. Narrowing my eyes I realized that this guy was not going to be easy. Looking back to Shirone I called out to her.
"Shirone I need you to grab my bag and leave to go hide somewhere! I'll find you after I'm done here." She looked like she was about to protest but I cut her off. "Please don't argue right now, just know it would make me feel better if you weren't inside this battle zone." She hesitated before grabbing my traveler's bag and jumping off the roof. As she did so we could hear screams from people, mostly about a little girl trying to commit suicide. "Well that's one way to get away quickly… I'll need to tell her some better ways to jump off rood next time." I looked back to Xenolith who also looked slightly confused.
"What is wrong with you?" I shrugged as I got ready for battle, seeing this Xenolith also got ready. "No matter! You will die here!"
Welcome to this line break!
We stared each other down observing each other's postures and weapons. His golden spear was about three feet long with the shaft and had a ten inch spear blade. The blade was a rhombus in shape. The shaft was octagonal in shape, but the whole thing was just gold in color. I was worried though because I didn't know what that spear could do, and I didn't know what my sword could do.
Ah the heck with it. With that thought I charged forward, then blinked over to his left side and swung horizontally at him with both hands on my sword. Reacting quickly he was able to block my attack. For a few seconds we tried to overpower each other before we both brought our weapons and swung at each other with overhead swings.
Connecting and exuding a small shock wave from our weapons colliding, we pulled them back again and I went in for a jab to his left side. He twirled his spear and knocked my blade to the side; he then stopped spinning it and went in to stab me in the gut. However I was able to swing my sword down and it connected with his spear head. Sparks flew off our weapons as they connected along with another shock wave.
We pulled our weapons back and started to attack each other in earnest. Both of us unleashed a barrage of powerful and quick strikes against the other. However no one was able to gain the upper hand. After knocking aside another quick stab I blinked back a ways and unleashed a barrage of ice shards at him.
This didn't affect him much, since he just twirled his spear around to block all of the shards. We both stopped attacking after that to catch our breaths a bit. Giving a small smirk he closed his eyes and concentrated on something. I didn't know what he was doing but I wasn't about to find out, so running at him full speed I brought my blade to the side. When I almost reached him he opened his eyes and white lightning started to discharge from his weapon.
Scowling I stopped and swung my sword at him and using my wind manipulation, I sent a blade of wind at him. He kept smiling as he bashed the blade of wind to the side before coming at me. Thinking quickly I launched an ice spike at him, and then ran at him as well. Battering my ice aside our weapons connected once more.
This time I knew I couldn't make a mistake. For a single scratch now could bring deadly consequences. Lightning is cheap that way… using my cryokenesis I created an ice sword in my left hand and swung at him with it. Not quite expecting that I managed to wound his left arm a bit. However he avoided serious damage by twirling around. While doing so he brought up the bottom of his spear and managed to hit my side with it.
I yelled out in pain as electricity coursed through my body, the strength of the blow sent me tumbling a ways off. The devil was now holding his arm in order to try and stop the bleeding. But when he looked at me he smiled, he knew he was in better condition than me now. As for me my body felt numb and I could taste copper in my mouth.
I also believe the attack broke some of my ribs… Again what is with these people and my ribs?! I tried standing up but I stumbled back down on my knees. Smirking Xenolith casually walked over to me. Breathing hard I tried to find the strength to get up. Unfortunately though, when I ever I tried to breathe I felt pain coming from my chest. I believe one of my broken ribs pierced a lung.
Grimacing I took out my pistol and started to fire at him. However the pistol was made for bigger things than Xenolith, so he was able to weave around them until a click was heard. I was out of bullets, so acting as quick as I could I tried to get a blood vial from my coat.
However he was faster and kicked me another couple feet. Things were not looking too good right now, correction things were looking horrible! Smiling like a lunatic which I guess he kind of was… he slowly stepped towards me and raised his spear for the kill. Scowling in pain I was about to just get up despite my injuries when I saw a white and pink blur slam into him. Unexpected as it was he was sent flying and hit the ground hard. Looking at my savior I saw it was none other than Shirone who looked both terrified and furious.
However her words pulled at my heart. "Le-leave my Onii San alone!" I couldn't help but smile, I was both happy yet upset that she endangered herself like this. However I knew now was not the time to berate her for her actions instead I used the opportunity to take a blood vial. Soon enough my lung was healed and most of my ribs were now just cracked. By that I mean most of... But that was the best that I could do. So straining and picking myself off the ground I went and stood next to Shirone.
"I would say that shouldn't have come and that it was too dangerous for you but… I do appreciate the quick rescue so thank you for saving me. Now then let me handle the rest." She nodded and backed up to stand next to the far edge of the building. Looking over to my opponent I saw that the kick did more damage than I first thought. Both of us were now completely exhausted and heavily battered.
I decided to call out to him. "Well Xenolith do you want to drag this out? Or do you want to finally finish this fight once and for all?!" Once he managed to pick himself up he looked over to me with a snarl.
"Yes let's finish this, then once you're dead I'll torture the girl before killing her!" That got my blood boiling again and I let it show by unleashing my anger onto him.
"If you think I'll let you lay a hand on her than you have another thing coming!" This made him laugh before he started coughing, after he stopped he spit out a wad of blood.
"You're already that close eh? Then perhaps I should just incapacitate you, and make you watch as I slowly kill her?"
Focusing and trying to calm my mind I looked at him with a neutral face. "That's not going to happen Xenolith now, let's end this." He only grinned and nodded his head before raising his spear over his head and twirling it. When doing so the spear instantly started crackling with white lightning, and a lightning ball formed right over his head. Ok I had to admit that was impressive… Unfortunately I didn't have anything like that. Then I heard a voice, at first I thought it was my darker half but then I noticed this one seemed calm and also gentle. It sounded like a woman's voice, I knew I've never heard this voice before but it still felt familiar.
'Do you want to cut through it?'
What?
'Do you want to cut through the ball of lightning?'
Yeah that would be extremely helpful… But who are you
'There is no time! Just wish to cut through it with your sword and it will be done.'
Sorry but that sounds a little too hopeful for me.
Oh just do it!
You too! Ugh fine but if I get fried to a crisp I'm coming back for both of you! So closing my eyes and concentrating on my new sword I tried to convey my wish to it. Xenolith saw me and just laughed thinking me foolish, which I personally had to agree with.
He then launched the attack at me all the while laughing at my soon to be demise. I heard Shirone shout out to me but I still concentrated on the sword. As I did any panic or anger I felt disappeared along with my fear. I felt calm and when I opened my eyes I swung the sword at the orb of lightning. What happened next shocked everyone including me, when the blade hit the orb I didn't feel it go through it. It was if I was swinging at air instead of an orb of lightning. The blade seemed to slip right through it, and the attack promptly disappeared.
It was as if I had cut through the bindings of the spell itself. Not wanting to lose my advantage I decided to figure this out later and I ran at Xenolith.
He however just stood there with a shocked expression. I brought my sword down cutting through most of his internal organs. I jumped back after that and started panting from both pain and exhaustion. However Xenolith just stood there and brought a hand to the wound and then brought it up to his face. Looking at the blood on his hand he closed his eyes before sighing and falling onto his back. When I gained his blood echoes I knew he was good and gone. It was over, this whole thing was over and Shirone was finally safe for now. With relief flooding my system I fell onto my back as well. Only I didn't die, however Shirone stilled yelled out to me and ran and knelt next to me to see if I was okay.
I gave her a strained smile while giving her a thumbs up. "Don't worry I'll live, but I'm definitely going to be feeling this in the morning." She rolled her eyes at my antics before looking sadly over at Xenoliths body.
"Is it over? Am I finally safe? Ca-can I still go home with you?" I laughed before groaning in pain. However she turned to me and gave me an angry pout. "Hey I was being serious here!" Smiling I raised my left hand up and patted her head affectionately.
"I know I'm just happy that I've gotten a new sister that's all." Her eyes lit up and she smiled happily at me, we both laughed a bit until I noticed something. "Hey um Shirone where's my bag?" Her eyes lit up in realization as she too noticed it was not up here with us. Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly she answered my question.
"Well when I heard you yell out in pain I got worried so I left the bag somewhere on the street and made my way up here." I nodded my head and with Shirone's help I managed to get to my feet. Luckily I still had enough energy for a few blinks and so I brought us down to the ground and looked around for my bag. Even though it was literally right in the middle of the street it was perfectly fine. However I did give Shirone an "are you serious look". This only made her chuckle nervously though. Shaking my head with a slight smile, I grabbed it and we made our way to a bench to sit. Taking another blood vial I could feel my ribs heal. But it still hurt every time I moved.
I only had about half a page left on the scripting so I decided to finish that up. Once I did I turned around to Shirone who looked pretty tired.
I cleared my throat to gain her attention. "Well I'm finally done! But now you have a choice to make." She looked at me confused. "Now I would love to have you around and be my new family, but I want to know what you want. Do you really want to come with me? Or do you want to stay here? If you choose the latter I'll do my best to set you up. If it's the former than I'll be more than happy to take you home."
She didn't even hesitate on her answer. "I'm going with you."
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" She just nodded her head and gave me a determined look.
"Yes I'm sure… and you know why?" I just shook my head. How could I know? I'm some sort of crazy insane voidwalker, one that hates monologues, and hunts the occasional demon. Shirone on the other hand just smiled at me. "Remember when I said I can feel people's chakras and through that what they're like?" I nodded my head. "Well when I feel yours I sense a darker energy. But instead of it feeling cold and aggressive… It feels warm and reassuring." I started to wonder if she's mistaken since I have a dark side voice in my head. "Don't give me that look! I know what I'm talking about!" Apparently my doubt was showing on my face.
"When I've talked to you I know you've never really spoke of yourself in high regard. But I know I just feel safe with you, and I also know that you didn't abandon me or hurt me. So if you think I'll leave you then you've got another thing coming Onii San!" I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. She did the same and we sat there for a bit before letting go. Standing up I opened up the portal to my hunters dream and held my hand out to her. She smiled and accepted it.
It was time for her to live a new life; however she wasn't the only one who would experience it. I too felt as though this was only just a new beginning.
Character notes
Monster classes… SSS, SS+, SS, S+, S, A, B, C, D, F+, F
Moka-Vampire: Natural S class monster-current class S
Mizore-Yuki Onna: Natural B class Monster-current class B
Kurumu-Succubus: Natural A class monster-current class A
Hunter-Voidwalker/Beast hunter: Natural D class monster-current class S+
Tsukune-Human: Natural F class-current F (comparison to Navy seals-C class)
Xenolith-Devil: Natural S class monster-current class S+
Shirone-Nekoshou: Natural B class monster-current class B
Kuroka-Nekoshou: Natural B class monster-current class S+
Xenolith's Peerage-Reincarnated devils: Natural A class monsters-current classes A
Sherry-Devil: Natural S class monster-current class S
Ruben-Devil: Natural S class monster-current class S
Shizuka Nekonome- Nekomusume: Natural D class monster-current class ?
Yukari Sendo-witch: Natural C class monster/border being-current class C
Slayer: I like hugs.
Mizore: Same! Especially if they're from you~.
Shirone: Onii Chan does have nice hugs.
Shadow: Yeah the almost eldritch abomination has good hugs… sounds on point actually.
Argentum: How?
Shadow: Oh you know… eldritch creatures usually hav-
Slayer: Okay that's enough out of you!
Xenolith: Yeah! I mean seriously? Disgusting!
Shadow: I was just stating it how it is!
Argentum: Sure you were.
Shadow: I hate all of you.
Mizore: Tell us something we don't know.
Shadow: People who drink coffee are bound to drink more spiders than anyone else.
Shirone: Oookaaayyy… good thing I don't drink coffee then.
Argentum: Poor Judan then.
Slayer: Well that's his fault for being a filthy coffee drinker. All hail Yorkshire Tea Gold!
Argentum: You've been watching the spiffing brit haven't you?
Slayer: Guilty! Now Xenolith finish this chapter off!
Xenolith: Sure fine whatever! This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off.
Everyone: Goodbye!