–Dust and Ash–
V.I.
Dust to Dust, and Ash to Ash
C. II.
Fallen Schemes
–[xXx]–
–Kamiya Rodel–
April 16th
It's been a little more than a week after the start of school, and things had gotten pretty weird. When I say weird, it's not like that usual weirdness of unusual events occurring one after another and formulating around one big weird day or week, like what had happened on the day Kunou moved in with a Fallen Angel attacking us. But that wasn't what was weird in this case; that was actually pretty tame compared to back when I lived in Kyoto.
No, what was weird was the fact that Issei has a girlfriend, and while I was proud of him, there was something a bit more urgent about this. Amano Yuuma – was her name, and it was definitely fake considering she was a Fallen Angel, at least judging by her Source, though I only had a slight look at it before she had left him at the school gates. Considering I had been attacked, more than likely, they're targeting people in Kuoh that could be a threat to them in some way, shape, or form. Perhaps at seeing the attack on me fail, they decided to go with a more silent approach for their methods?
However, the attack on Issei definitely wasn't going to be a cakewalk; he has a Sacred Gear, and it was quite powerful. Thanks to my Senjutsu, I'm able to sense the Source of living beings, their specific energy signature which pertains to them and their race. With this, I was able to figure out that Hyoudou Issei – a lecherous idiot who began to attend Kuoh Academy one year after me, possessed a Sacred Gear. After finding this out, I realized that the Devils in this area would probably also find out at some point, so I decided to help Issei out, from one superhuman to another superhuman (unawakened). It'd also help make him prepared for moments like this, when a Supernatural being was after him, in a more life or death manner.
While I helped Issei out with his perverted behavior (at least publicly, only God knows about what he does behind closed doors and I definitely didn't want to know), the two of us became friends as senior and junior. However, this also formed a bit of a rift with him and his two other friends. I didn't really want to see this happen, so I attempted to help them as well – but they decided to laugh in my face and do what they wanted as they threaten me with bodily harm which they can't back up, and they continued to peep and read pornography, which sent them to the infirmary more times than not as the girls involved in their peeping didn't take kindly to getting looked upon. Issei attempted to help, but they decided that he was a traitor and had been brainwashed by me, deeming me the 'enemy of perverts'.
Honestly, I was a bit saddened by this turn of events. I had only wanted to help Issei protect himself so that he wouldn't get taken advantage of by the Devils in Kuoh or some other Supernatural beings, but it ended up separating him from his friends. But, in the end, Issei thanked me, telling me that he was actually able to hold a conversation with a girl in his class, so it was sort of worth it.
Well, I felt like he was simply being tough, but I decided to pretend to accept his answer. I gave him a little time to cool off from this, and then I spilled the beans about the Supernatural World existing; that Gods, Angels, Devils, Dragons – and everything else – existed and that he possessed a Sacred Gear. At first, he didn't believe me, but after showing him my own powers, he said that he was either dreaming, on a drug, or that I was telling the truth, and, perhaps it was wrong of me, but I decided to use his own perversion against him.
It told him, and I quote: "If you become strong, you might get a harem of Supernatural babes."
Hook, line, and sinker – I felt bad for him, I really did, but it's all in the name of protecting him, so I'm sure God or whoever can forgive me. As for what Sacred Gear he ended up possessing? It was, surprise, surprise – the [Boosted Gear]! It is one of the dozen or so Longinus that existed in this world, Sacred Gears which can even slay a God, and it was home and prison to one of the Heavenly Dragons, the Red Dragon Emperor – Y Ddraig Goch.
In the time it took to help Issei, and the time it took to unlock, there had only been a couple of months to help train him. He didn't take his training that seriously, but we still made some good progress. He went from pretty much bottom of the class physically, to top of his year (not counting the Devils). He was definitely the strongest human at school, disregarding myself, and he can currently use his Sacred Gear three times before he hits his bodily limit.
But, from my calculations from his current strength, and regarding the strength of the Fallen that had attacked me… he probably won't win. This doesn't bode well for my friend, not at all. I'll definitely have to step in during his date later this day. I didn't know the exact time he'd be going out with her (most likely right after school, or perhaps an hour after to allow time to unwind and change clothes), but I had to be there for him, just in case. Or at least, that was the only plan I could come up with.
I did tell Issei to watch out for his new girlfriend, and he looked like he knew something was fishy too. While he wasn't the greatest at sensing Supernatural beings, he has been around me for a year now, and with Kunou joining us for the last week when we hung out at my place or his, he's more than likely adapted to the unique aura which hung on Supernatural beings like a shitty perfume. So, I wouldn't put it past him if he ended up noticing with the amount of contact he's had with this Yuuma girl – unless his love for breasts had been clouding his judgment, I was almost certain he knew that she wasn't human.
Breathing a sigh of hot air, I rested my forehead against the cool desk in class, ignoring the teacher ramble on about English pronunciation and intonations or whatever. I didn't like complicated stuff like this. If I hadn't befriended Issei, I probably wouldn't be that bothered – no, I wouldn't have thought that he'd be in danger. I'd more than likely assume that my junior had somehow nagged a Fallen Angel as a girlfriend and think nothing of it.
If he ended up dead, one of those Devils would certainly recruit him into their peerage. I already knew that they knew about his Sacred Gear, and that was because of the short contact I had with Toujou Koneko.
Sometime after I had helped Issei awaken his Sacred Gear and realized what it was, I met the white-haired girl outside of school by mere chance. I had already been thinking on a way to keep Issei safe from being targeted by the two Devil heiresses to join their peerage, and on a safeguard in the event of his death, and as such, seeing my chance, I decided to go for it.
I called out to Koneko and asked if she could get me a meeting with her King, Rias Gremory. I knew that Sona was the more logical of the two, and it would definitely be more difficult to get her to agree to what I wanted, but Rias was more emotional, more honest. She'd accept at the whiff that it'd help her in the end.
I had to dangle some sort of bait for Koneko to accept my request, so I decided to buy her some sweets. I had plenty of experience dealing with younger girls – thanks to Kunou – and if the fox-girl was anything to go by, then they loved sweets. It just so happened that Koneko possessed a sweet tooth perhaps on par, or exceeding, that of Kunou, and my wallet immediately felt the punch from that incident.
With that, Koneko managed to get me a meeting with the Gremory heiress, and it was there that I dangled the information on a Longinus for her and struck a deal. That deal entailed that she would be able to Reincarnate upon death, and death only – she couldn't attempt to persuade them to join her peerage, and she couldn't get close to them, be it herself or one of her peerage members, unless this individual chose to approach them first.
It took some persuading, but I managed to get Rias to agree, and with that, I secured that Rias and Sona wouldn't approach Issei. The reason Sona wouldn't approach him in regard of recruiting him now that Rias (and by proxy Sona, because the red-haired would definitely tell her friend), was that Rias agreed to a deal to Reincarnate Issei upon his death and that Sona Reincarnating him, or attempting to, before that date, would go against this contract, and that would make Rias an enemy.
Of course, Sona simply accepted the fact and answered that she'll let Rias have Issei since she had her sights on one Saji Genshirou. Unfortunately, I had to make a sacrifice, since Sona privately told me that she'd only honor the deal that Rias agreed on if I were to be a bystander for her recruiting Genshirou into her peerage. I was essentially forced to accept – while I had realized that he possessed a Sacred Gear as well, I had my hands filled with Issei to do anything about it.
And with that, Genshirou was approached, and eventually Reincarnated. But that was perfectly fine by me – because Genshirou had thought on it and accepted by his own volition. He wasn't strong-armed in joining, he wasn't promised power, money, fame, and the women – he simply used his own free will to accept the proposal given to him. He didn't have to; Sona wasn't forcing him to join, and she wasn't threatening him. If anything, she probably told him that he'd have a lot of work to do, considering he'd be joining the Student Council.
But it was by his own choice that he joined, and I couldn't refute it even if I hated Devils.
Free will was the perk of living; having it stripped away was the worst thing you could do to someone. Forcing someone to be Reincarnated into something they didn't want to be would've turned me into their enemy. I didn't care if it was Rias, or if it was Sona – I simply couldn't overlook that fact, and I knew that it happened all the time. Devils didn't always ask for permission, they'd even go so far as to make the human or entity have an accident and then swoop in and Reincarnate them.
That was why I wanted to make an arrangement with the two of them. My original arrangement with them was to simply help from time to time, but this time, I increased my workload so that Issei could choose if he ever decided to. Unfortunately, I also couldn't just let Issei die, so I had to think about what Issei would've wanted if he were to die. While I couldn't know the specifics, I knew he wouldn't want to sadden his mother and father, and that was what I had decided to go with when I chose for him.
Of course, if the day ever happened, I would tell him and let him do what he wanted to do – if he wanted to hit me, so be it, if he wanted to walk away from me and never speak to me again, then that was fine too. I didn't want to choose for him, but in the event of his death... of the death of my friend, I had to choose.
Someone with a Sacred Gear would never live a normal life. That was decided on the day that they were born, with a Sacred Gear acting as a parasite latching onto the Source upon conception. The moment that happens, that human would never be normal – no way around it. And yet, perhaps the decision I had made was even worse.
–[xXx]–
Later that very same day, just as I was beginning to follow Issei outside of the school grounds to wherever he was going to go to, be it the date spot he had agreed upon, or home – I ran into an unexpected problem. Kunou wanted to go out with me. The reason for this outing was that she wanted to find all the good places to eat. While I had already taken her throughout most of Kuoh by this point, she still wanted to expand her knowledge on the town, and she wanted to start with places to eat, and of course, I couldn't say no (sorry Issei, but it was nice knowing ya, I can't just say no to that face, but I'll try to make it up to you if you survive!).
Namely, what Kunou wanted the most out of this trip, were the sweets. Of course, it had to be sweets; when we had first met, she nearly cleaned my wallet out from me having to buy her sweets alone, before she was collected by her mother after getting lost. It was certainly an experience, but I was well-rewarded by it because of everything that had happened after that.
Becoming friends with Kunou, learning Senjutsu courtesy of Yasaka, and (for the most part) becoming rich through allowances given to me by the Nine-Tailed Fox herself.
Within that time frame, and the two years I had been separated from the pair of mother and daughter, I could safely say I had reached the level of High-class Devil when compared to them, perhaps mid-rank within that category. Either way, I was quite confident in my strength. And that was all thanks to Yasaka. Without her, I, who possessed no Sacred Gear, or legendary bloodline, or anything of that effect, was able to become strong. I had much to thank her for, but the least I can do is to make sure that Kunou was safe and happy.
Unfortunately for me, that would be easier said than done, considering the situation I ended up being put in. After all, if the scale wasn't set earlier for weirdness, I'm sure this would take the cake. The fact of the matter is, I knew Issei was on his date right now, and I knew he would die when the sun begins to set (judging by the Fallen's chosen name, which means setting sun), though I might be proven wrong, I doubt it. However, with my own not-a-date right now, I had planned on taking Kunou home and then dropping by to more than likely save his damned life.
Of course, as previously stated, if someone was measuring how weird shit has gotten, this moment would take the cake. At least for now. Give or take another month or two, and that perspective will more than likely shift, judging by how things have turned out this year so far.
"What can I do for you, Fedora Man?" I breathed out with some hint of amusement in my tone, though it was definitely mostly annoyance at having to deal with this. I did have a friend I wanted to rescue, after all!
"It's Dohnaseek, you filthy human!" The Fallen Angel cursed at me, venom dripping off his words like a salivating snake. Dohnaseek clearly didn't like me, as was evident of his harsh tongue, the fact that he came before me again, and how this time, he brought backup.
The woman standing next to him snorted at the nickname that I had given him as she crossed her arms lazily. "I like that name. I think I'll start calling you that from now on, Dohnaseek." Shooting him a sly grin as she sent such a joke to him, the Fallen Angel snarled at her before switching his target of hatred back to me.
Behind me, Kunou's eyes narrowed into a glare. She hadn't understood what was going on when the two first appeared before our eyes, but after Dohnaseek insulted me, she started figuring things out. Perhaps considering that they've placed us in a small barrier to keep onlookers away from our location, she decided to remove her transformation and stepped around me, throwing her right hand horizontally out to the side from the left to the right.
I was surprised to see her take charge like this, but I also didn't want them to pay her any slight attention. I knew she was a lot stronger than she looked, especially considering her age, but as her elder, and someone who can call her my younger sister without getting looks in public, I also didn't want her to get hurt.
"How dare you speak to him in such a way!" She shouted with malice in her tone, a snarl upon her lips. "Do you have any idea as to who he is, to who I am!? I'm the Pri– mwha!?"
"Calm down, sis." I dropped a hand onto her head, causing her to shriek out something embarrassing from surprise. The girl fumbled at my hand halfheartedly in a show of getting me to let go of her, or to get me to keep petting her more, which I could only draw entertainment from – if I didn't have to glare daggers at the two Fallen Angels gathered before us. In normal circumstances, I would've capitalized on my teasing, to tease Kunou more and get her to cutely tell me to stop when all she wants is for me to keep going. But right now? It wasn't really the time.
"So? What can I do for the two of you? I'm gonna go ahead and guess you don't want my autograph."
"Obviously, you insolent brat!" Dohnaseek shouted, taking a half-step forward. Disgust was clear on his face as he looked down on the two of us. "I don't want to care to guess about why you have a Kitsune with you, nor how long you'll be screaming once I'm done with you. The only thing I want to know... is the time you'll be departed from this Godforsaken world!"
"Impertinent Fallen!" Kunou countered, shrugging off my hand after the death threat I had received from Dohnaseek. "I'll make you regret that tone you are taking right now, you failure of a Twix bar!"
Kunou's insult was a bit weird, but considering she was probably using Senjutsu to sense his Source and the fact that I describe them using candy and such (mostly only towards Kunou because it was funny seeing her expressions), she probably picked it up from me. And damn, I just realized that the way I describe someone's Source is a freaking insult to them. I gotta do it more to their face.
"...At least the kid got spunk." The woman chuckled. "Forgive me for my rudeness," her voice took on a completely different tone, but it sure as Hell wasn't respectful. "But I'm Kalawarner. The guy who looks like he stalks people for a daily and I are going to kill you. I suppose the girl will receive a bit of a harsh thrashing if she doesn't want to shut the fu–"
"Language!" I interrupted hastily as I realized what she was about to say. "She's still twelve!" The two Fallen simply stared at me like I had grown a second head. To them, perhaps I had said something that was completely incomprehensible, but Kunou was still a child. I didn't want to corrupt her young and adorable mind with such crude language! She should instead stick to much more sophisticated ways of insulting people. That's more adorable.
"Anyway," Kalawarner continued after a moment with a blink of her eyes as she cracked her knuckles. "Let's get started with your funeral, okay?"
"Great idea, but unfortunately, I don't think you can pay for my hole, but I'm sure you can pay for yourselves."
"That's quite unfortunate," Dohnaseek adjusted his hat on his head, a cruel smile spreading across his lips. "But I'm afraid we won't be burying you; we'll be cremating you!"
"...I think that's actually more expensive." It actually wasn't, but I just wanted to piss him off.
"Fuck you!"
"Language dammit!"
At that moment, the imaginary gong ran. The two of us ran forward, white aura wrapping around my limbs and body as I activate Touki. Dohnaseek was momentarily surprised at this as his eyes widened a fraction from the sight, but quickly ignored it as he created a blue Light Spear in his right and left hand, and then with some delicate control, he somehow made it spin around his arms and create gauntlets.
At the same moment, our right foot dug into the soil beneath our feet, and our hands went flying forward, countering the punch of the other. Knuckles digging into the other, it proved that we possessed the same level of strength– or is at least what described the first second of contact.
The next second, however, I put more of the strength that Touki gave me into the blow, and pushed Dohnaseek back, much to his and Kalawarner's shock. The next moment sent him careening away from the blow, though he managed to catch his footing at the last moment and stumble backward a few feet.
Before I could give chase, Kalawarner flapped her wings and took off into the sky, a golden-colored Light Spear materializing in her right hand. The woman aimed towards me and threw the spear, but before it could cover half the distance, it suddenly exploded into light as an attack courtesy of my Senjutsu countered it.
"Hah, I knew I figured out your range!" Dohnaseek smirked as he ran forward a few steps before wings burst from his back and added to his speed as he took off, flying straight at me with a Light Spear poised to run me through. As he approached, I brought my right leg up, and brought the heel down onto the point of his spear, deadlocking him instantly.
A moment later, the spear began to crack from the tip, halfway down the spear. However, even seeing this, Dohnaseek smirked. Bringing his left hand back, blue enveloping it, he punched forward, nearly nailing me in the cheek if it wasn't for me leaning back slightly to just barely dodge it. I then lifted my left hand and helped guide his missed blow even further back, which caused him to stumble forward.
His slight forced overextension by way of miss and stumble caused him to fumble the spear against my heel slightly, displacing it from the center of my heel to its side, which allowed me to immediately slam my heel through it, shattering it in its entirety. The moment my foot touched the ground, a small crater formed at the impact as dirt went flying. Ignoring this, I brought my left foot up and sent Dohnaseek flying backward in the air, making him flip a few times around from force alone as he went flying from the short blow delivered against his chest.
He spat out a glob of blood as Kalawarner flew past him. Seeing a chance, she swung a gold Light Sword down at me, but I blocked with a punch, shattering it in its middle. But before it could completely dissipate, it recollected itself into a spear due to her rather amazing Light manipulation, and she stabbed towards me. I sidestepped the telegraphed attack aimed at my chest and was forced on the defensive as Dohnaseek appeared from the direction I had stepped off to.
He swung a fist aimed at my chin, but I stepped back to avoid the blow, then he brought a leg up in an attempt to trip me, but I lightly hopped away. When my feet touched the ground, I ducked under Kalawarner's swipe with her spear, and before I could fix my posture, Dohnaseek spun around her form on the other side and placed a spinning kick into my face.
Fortunately, I was able to react to the attack on time and catch it with my right hand. Unfortunately, Dohnaseek anticipated this as a spear came lunging forward hidden underneath his leg, causing me to have missed it.
I leaned back quickly, the spear missing me by an inch, and then let go of Dohnaseek as a Light Sword came cutting down where my arm was a moment ago as thanks from Kalawarner. I jumped back, hoping to gain some distance, but Kalawarner spread her hands to her side, creating small golden Light Pellets in the air space between her hands. Counting quickly, I figured that there was between three and five dozen of them interspaced between her hands.
With only a second to figure out the trajectory, Kalawarner shot them all towards me. Crossing my arms over my body, I extended my Touki momentarily as I flashed my energy to my sides, thanks to Senjutsu. Oh boy, did I love Senjutsu, and I'm sorry for all the abuse I'll be putting on you from here on out. The sudden influx of energy blocked each of the pellets as they shot at me, a few missing my body as they weren't aimed at me, but at Kunou behind me, but luckily enough of me, I had already figured that part out and had flashed my Touki to block those pellets.
Kalawarner had probably tried to take advantage of my close relationship with Kunou and attack me and Kunou, in hope that I would choose to take the attack to save her – but she hadn't taken in consideration that Senjutsu was simply too adaptable in fights and that it could be used to increase the range of Touki, even if only for a second.
The pellets dissipated as they made contact with my Touki, failing against its defensive properties, and Kalawarner cursed. Dohnaseek moved pass her to chase after me, and I took the moment to shout at Kunou.
"Get back sis! They're aiming to also strike you if they can get at me!"
"But–!" She tried to argue, but whatever else she was going to say went unheard as I dodged a swipe of a pair of spears courtesy of Dohnaseek, before planting a foot against his chest and knocking him back at Kalawarner.
Unfortunately, Kalawarner expected this and jumped up, her wings allowing her flight as she threw a Light Spear aimed at me as Dohnaseek used his own wings to flip around in the air to help him fix his posture and land against the ground, though his momentum still dragged him back a few meters before stopping.
I backhanded the Light Spear with my left hand, though it stung for a second, like horribly so. My body had been taxed due to the flash I did mere moments prior, and I've yet to completely recover from that overuse of Touki, so the Light Spear managed to actually damage me through my badly weakened Touki (which only covered barely half a centimeter from my flesh, with a few holes forming here and there, though too small to notice properly), and I took more damage than I thought I would've gotten. But thankfully, it was only a slight cut and burn, and it barely left a mark on me, so my concentration remained mostly uninterrupted.
"Rodel!" Kunou shouted, taking a step forward, but I had no time to consider her as I quickly sidestepped Kalawarner's charge. I spun around clockwise, bringing my left foot from the ground up to the sky, and then laying it down on Kalawarner's back. Blood spurt between her lips from the heavy blow, and her body collided against the ground, resulting in a small explosion that generated a dirt cloud around the two of us, with a crater forming beneath her from the force.
I then jumped up into the air, gathering Senjutsu to create a ball of white energy, before lobbing it over towards Dohnaseek, who just managed to stop skidding backward. The fedora-wearing man clicked his tongue at seeing the dense ball of life-force heading his way, and with a grunt, he created a rather large Light Spear, most likely putting a lot of his energy into its creation.
"Suck on this and die, human filth!" Roaring out his declaration of my death, he tossed his spear forward like an Olympic athlete. The spear pierced into the front of the ball, momentarily stopping it, but a second Light Spear thanks to Kalawarner from below caused it to explode. I almost cursed at realizing that she wasn't out of the fight even after my earlier blow which had caused her Source to spike down in output, as I was forced to dodge a follow-up attack by Dohnaseek that nearly took my head off my shoulders at my momentary distraction.
I fell to the ground, and with a flip, I landed like a feline against it. Kalawarner was on me instantly, like an alcoholic to a brand-new bottle of whiskey, though I could tell she was exhausted. Bringing a heel up, she brought it down in hope of cleaving my head in two, but I crossed my arms and took the blow, though the force caused the ground beneath my feet to become uneven as my arms went slightly numb. I pushed back against her and sent her toppling off of me and unto the ground, where she quickly rolled away with visible strain.
It was at this moment that I sensed a third Fallen Angel approaching us, attempting to hide its energy. While I had only seen Amano Yuuma for a few moments at a distance, it was most likely not her. If that was the case, then there's a fourth Fallen Angel among this group, and hopefully, it would stay at four.
Thanks to my level of Senjutsu, they couldn't hide their Source from me completely, and judging by its feel, this Fallen was a girl, and she was a bit weaker than Dohnaseek and Kalawarner, and currently just barely had more energy than they did currently due to our fight. However, just as I prepared to raise my energy levels to deal with this additional threat, a telepathic link hit my mind like a static shock of electricity.
"I'll get the new arrival; you focus on the other two!" Kunou told me telepathically, surprising me that she was able to speak to someone else through her mind, as she had never shown this trait of hers back when I lived in Kyoto. As I couldn't casually telepathically speak to others (unlike some people apparently), it took me a moment to figure out how to respond, considering we were still, thankfully, connected.
"Don't be rash! If you get so much as a scrape, Yasaka will have my hide and present it on her wall!" I definitely wasn't kidding, but Kunou merely sent me a short reassurance before cutting the link, earning a scowl from me, though I kept my eyes firmly planted on the two Fallen Angels before me.
This is going to be bad – very bad. But I just have to trust in Kunou. She knows what she's doing, right? I mean, Senjutsu was one of the best methods of sensing the strength of an opponent. It takes a lot of training to go under the radar of a Senjutsu practitioner, and Kunou was a Kitsune. She should be able to tell if the Fallen Angel was below her in strength… or above it. I mean, I could, and I was still worried!
It'll be fine. Hopefully.
–[xXx]–
–Kunou–
Rodel really was amazing. He was only human, but he was able to fight against two Fallen Angels – and he wasn't even using his full power! I hadn't even seen him once use Youjutsu, and he barely used Senjutsu, other than through applications of Touki. He truly was strong and incredibly adaptable to his powers. He was a natural!
Making him my goal was certainly worth it.
But right now, I had something else to focus on. A third Fallen Angel was creeping towards us, and given its Source, it was definitely weaker than myself. Then again, Youkai was stronger than the Biblical Faction on average, so it was only obvious that a twelve-year-old Kitsune would be stronger than whoever that was – at least, given its presumably young age, unless it spent most of its life lounging around and ruining its own potential.
It was quite good at hiding its energy from prying eyes, but its opponents were capable of Senjutsu. You can't hide from it by simply being good. As such, I calmed my heart and waited with bated breath and eyes forward, watching Rodel battle against Fedora Man and Kalawarner. What a weird name, the guy had.
Letting my eyes close with an exhalation of breath, I let my mind wonder towards the Source I could feel around me. Three distinct signatures popped out, not counting my own.
Rodel's was like a bright sun that was fiery and cool; almost as if it was experiencing an ice age, but it still burned so much. It simply proved his fun personality and happy-go-lucky outlook on life, while also knowing about reality, and that things weren't always fun – it perfectly described Rodel, making him seem like a bar of bitter dark chocolate on the outside, but a look inside revealed very sweet white chocolate that was just slightly melted and wonderfully delicious!
Fedora Man's had a creamy inside with chocolate ridged around it, though there were cracks formed due to malice, and the chocolate was a bit dried, with the cream being darkened from melted chocolate.
Kalawarner's had chocolate sprinkled over vanilla ice cream, though there were also patches of chocolate syrup covering it with a hint of what could have been peanut butter, though I could be mistaken.
The new Fallen Angel's was far more unique than those two, as it was like a glass of chocolate with milk poured in; like one of those nasty coffees Mother sometimes drinks when she has to stay up throughout the entire night.
A Fallen Angel's Source was like that; it had darkness on the outside with light on the inside. An Angel's was primarily filled with light, and a Devil was the exact opposite. Things started getting tricky the stronger they were, as more elements were added into the mix, and other species, like Dragons, were even more unique.
From what Mother has told me, Dragons possess the most unique aura among all species on the planet, Supernatural or not. Apparently, they were completely different depending on the Dragon itself, no matter how strong or weak it was.
But I was getting distracted. If I kept thinking about candy, chocolate, cake, and anything else sweet, then I probably would stop paying attention to the third Fallen Angel and get attacked from behind. I didn't want to get taken hostage; that would upset Rodel, and he might do something stupid.
Or he might just let them kill him, which would be even worse. Not to mention what Mother would think and feel.
Inhaling through my nose, I exhaled from my mouth, and everything became clear. I could see the area we were in through my Senjutsu alone. Through the auras I could sense within my mind, I formed shapes through memory. The fountain, the water within it, the trees, the grass, the dirt, Rodel, Fedora Man, Kalawarner – and then our new arrival.
It, or rather she, was silently creeping over the fountain now, right hand extended. A low amount of energy was being sent towards her hand, energy which appeared pink in coloration. She was clearly taking her time with charging up the attack, as she didn't want to accidentally give herself away. The rest of her was white with dark outlines, the same as everything else around me that was alive. For objects, it was simply black, with natural things like water, fire, or air appearing to be blue, red, or green. Though this didn't block my sight, so-to-speak. Instead, it helped me differentiate people from objects, and objects from natural occurrences.
It also allows my reaction time to get sped up to a certain extent, due to my manually controlling my life-force. What I mean, is that usually an electric signal or whatever is sent from the brain to the area you want to move, but instead, I can bypass that by having my life-force move my body as if they had a mind of their own.
The girl leaped forward at that moment, a pink Light Spear forming in her hand (which appeared almost blinding in my mind due to the specific kind of energy it was made from) and lunged it towards the small of my back. However, with only an inch to spare, I formed Touki around my legs (I was only good enough at putting it over specific areas of my body, as I couldn't hold it over the rest for more than a moment. I also could only hold it like this for a minute at most too) and I spun counter-clockwise around the tip, stopping one-eighty degrees from my original position with a small step to my now right, and hooked my left arm underneath the spear, with my right going above it.
I then shifted the Touki to only be covering my arms, and, pushing it against the crook of my arms, with the left being closer to its tip and the right being closer to its middle, I snapped the spear into three separate pieces with only a moderate amount of strain.
The girl's eyes widened, and a sudden, uncontrollable wavering spike occurred in her Source due to panic. Pulling my right arm along the length of the broken spear away from her, my elbow pointing at her, I pushed my right foot forward with my left digging back, and turned the direction that my feet were pointing into the left to give me a stronger foothold to stand and brace on. Then, in one clean movement, I brought my elbow, with Touki surging around it, and struck forward and into the Fallen Angel's chest with as much strength as I could muster. The Fallen Angel heaved from the sudden force, and I could feel a rib-cracking from the pressure as she coughed up spittle and blood, before getting sent flying back and into the side of the fountain, cracking several pieces off of it, before bouncing over it and above the rest of it, before hitting the ground on the other side with a painful roll.
Whereas Rodel liked to mess around with those he was stronger than (though he'd definitely deny this), I didn't hold back at all. These people were threatening to harm him, and to even kill him! How could I hold back!? I knew he would go all out if they did the same to me, so I simply returned the favor!
And, to add to that, I used Touki and Senjutsu against the girl – while the blow definitely did inflict physical damage to her body, possibly even leading to a lung getting cut into with a rib, I also inflicted Spiritual damage directly to her Source. She wouldn't be able to join the fight right away even if she wanted to; she needed to rest to recover. Senjutsu, as my brother would say, was a particular word that I wasn't allowed to say like that! ...I have still yet to find out what he actually says, but I'm working on it.
Huffing due to pride, I placed my palms against my hips and smirked, turning my nose up as I looked down on the defeated. The Fallen was struggling to get up, so it looked like I was the winner of this bout already. Perhaps Rodel will take things a little more seriously considering my way too easy victory over here! Hmph!
–[xXx]–
–Kamiya Rodel–
While I couldn't most of the fight that took place between Kunou and the new Fallen Angel, due to the interference of Dohnaseek and Kalawarner, I did see the finishing elbow strike and I could definitely sense the smug satisfaction of Kunou winning against whatever the Fallen's name was. Rolling my eyes, I decided to humor the girl as I flashed my Touki once more, refilling the defensive and offensive aura back to where it started at during the beginning of this fight, and then went even further beyond just for extra measure.
It was at this moment, that I was almost going full in with my power, at least in regard to Touki.
The sudden rise of my energy panicked Dohnaseek for a second as his face paled from how high it had gone, which allowed me to get the drop on him due to his distraction. Literally.
Digging in my feet against the ground, I jumped up, over a lunge from a Light Spear he held in his right hand (which he had prepared before I raised my energy), as his left prepared to swing a Light Sword when I inevitably dodged the telegraphed attack. However, the sudden increase of my energy and swift movement made him blink in surprise as panic took hold of his body once more.
Unable to react in time, Dohnaseek could only grit his teeth and tense his body as he prepared for whatever kind of pain his body would be assaulted with. Not that it would help; Senjutsu was a bitch like that.
Spinning around once in midair, I let my right leg raise upward, before bringing the heel down on the back of Dohnaseek's skull, causing a very short scream to echo from his lips before he crashed against the ground, skull fractured a bit from the blow as his hat billowed off his head from the wind resulting from his impact against the ground. Though I could sense that he wasn't dead from the hit, he was definitely not going to be feeling well when he woke up tomorrow.
I landed behind his crumpled form a moment later and turned to see Kalawarner considering her odds of victory. Sending her a challenging smirk, the woman backed away in fright and then turned to fly away. However, charging forward at that moment, I grabbed Kalawarner's left shoulder and arm and gave her a terrible judo flip over my body, which resulted in me accidentally throwing her into a tree which was in front of her, and in the opposite direction that I had meant to put her in.
I was pretty bad at judo; don't judge me.
However, the blow incapacitated her anyway, so I decided that I meant to do that. Looking over towards where Kunou's opponent ended up, I found that Kunou had decided to begin to poke her stomach with a stick she had found in boredom, though given how her ears were perked up, she was most likely paying as much attention as she could to my fight with her senses as she could... as she played around with her defeated opponent who was definitely still conscious but didn't want to fight after her very quick beatdown.
If I had to give everyone a power level based on random numbers which probably didn't make sense... If I was three hundred, then Dohnaseek would be one-twenty, Kalawarner would be one hundred exactly, Kunou would be two-fifteen, and, uh... Fallen Angel Three, would be eighty. Going by this trend, their leader was most likely around one-fifty. Or, it could be higher, and there could be more of them. In the end, I didn't have to fear Kunou getting hurt, judging by the level of power she showed today, and I believed that she had a lot more tricks up her sleeve than just some crazy martial arts.
Breathing a huff of amusement, I turned and began to walk towards my adorable little fox sister with my left hand shoved down into my pocket, so that Kunou wouldn't notice the slight injury, and a nonchalant look crossing my expression. After all, school was still tomorrow and she needed the sleep, and considering the time, Issei was already dead! There wasn't anything I could do about it now.
Or perhaps they hadn't killed him? Maybe, they're going to recruit him this time? If they do, I can definitely have them back away from attempting to murder me every week or so. Well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Will I be angry?
Will I be level-headed?
Will I be relieved?
Which will it be? I didn't know, and I didn't want to know. I was too busy focusing on this fight to think to use Senjutsu to figure out if Issei was being attacked or not, so I had no idea of knowing. Not unless I head to the crime scene, but that park was on the other side of Kuoh, and I didn't want to walk that far after getting in a good workout.
Let's just hope that things end up going peacefully this time around. Smiling wryly at the optimism, I came to a stop to Kunou's left. Eyes scrunching up in wonderment at Fallen Angel Three's patience to what was essentially Kunou poking a beaten horse – I had to hand it to her on how well she could lay there and pretend to be unconscious. Kunou soundly defeated her and seeing that I defeated two Fallen Angels that were stronger than her, she knew that she couldn't really do anything right now. Neither fight back, nor escape.
As weak as she was, she knew that the two of us were beyond her.
Kunou poked her cheek with the stick, and then again near her eye. FAT's (oh God, abbreviating it is hilarious!) nose twitched, and I vaguely noticed she bit down on her lower lip in an effort to control herself. Kunou aimed the stick towards FAT's nose as she stuck out her tongue cutely in concentration, and I found that I didn't have the heart to let FAT go through such a thing.
"Say, Kunou," I began, interrupting the little fox girl's playful prank. Kunou blinked; her left ear twitching, before looking up at me with an innocent smile. "Why are you poking her over and over again?" I decided to simply ask this as I crouched down with my right hand placed against my thigh, spreading my knees out to the sides and balancing on the tips of my toes.
"Well, she tried to attack us! So, I think it's my right to at least play around with her!" To reinforce this thought, she poked FAT on the nose, missing the nostril by inches due to not looking. I could practically feel the anger in FAT at this, but Kunou seemingly didn't notice. Or she did and found happiness in her reaction. Kitsune were known for being natural pranksters, after all.
"Right, well." I placed my fingertips against my chin, as if I was in thought, looking down at FAT, as Kunou's prank turned into an idea for teasing her as well. "Considering the other two have been knocked out, and this one is still good to go... err, is she alive, little sis?"
"What!?" Kunou sputtered, looking at me with wide eyes as if she couldn't believe what I had just said. "Of course, she's alive! Why would I kill her!? I'm not a monster!" I chuckled at her reaction, knowing as well as she did that the Fallen Angel was alive but still wanted to poke some fun at her, causing her to pout adorably. FAT sighed in relief at hearing that Kunou hadn't planned on killing her, though Kunou completely missed this (maybe – I still can't figure out if Kunou knows that she's playing possum). I guess FAT wasn't as good at playing a corpse than she thought, because the longer I looked, the clearer her little reactions became. I even noticed a finger twitching that I had missed earlier! Look at me go!
But, it wasn't like we had as much time as we wanted to goof around, and I knew that if things kept up, she'd definitely end up sneezing or coughing, or doing something to attract our attention, so I might as well end this poor game of charades now. "Well, then we can at least find out why we were attacked, right?" I placed a hand against FAT's head with a smug grin marked on my face as I began to ruffle her hair around with amusement tinging my tone. "Right, little girl?"
"I'm not a little girl and get your disgusting hand off of me!" She sat up quickly onto her knees, flinging her hands up into the air, while at the same time roughly moving away from my hand to get it off of her head, though a moment later, she paled in realization as she saw my grin. "U-uhm..."
Kunou glared at the girl for the words she flung at me, but before she could figure out an adorable insult to throw at FAT, I decided to get the ball rolling by asking the most important question that I could:
"So, you heard me. Why were we attacked?"
"Yes, now answer his question, you... you!" Kunou looked like she was having difficulty figuring out a proper insult as she made a shaking fist in her left hand, but just when I thought she gave up, with a strained look on her face, she finished with an indignant puff as she pointed the left index finger in FAT's face. "Reject of chocolate milk!"
I blinked twice, turning my eyes on her just as FAT dropped open her mouth, confusion was written clearly on both of our faces. However, whereas FAT couldn't even figure out how to make a vowel, much less a syllable, I could at least speak up with bewilderment mincing my tone.
"Kunou... what does that even mean?" I asked the Kitsune with another blink of my eyes. Kunou turned to look at me, a blush forming on her cheeks as she realized what she had said probably didn't make a lick of sense.
"We-well... uhm... Her Source feels like... so... I just... wait a minute!" A sudden realization stopped her stuttering as her eyes widened and she pointed at me. "You have Senjutsu, so you can figure it out for yourself!"
"Oh, right. Forgot about that for a minute there." Chuckling awkwardly in embarrassment, I closed my eyes and let my Senjutsu examine FAT's Source. A moment later, I understood what Kunou had said; whereas chocolate milk is normally made by pouring milk into a glass and then the chocolate, FAT was the exact opposite; the chocolate was placed into a glass first, and then the milk was poured in, which just sounds wrong. It's like pouring milk into a bowl and then adding the cereal! It was unusual.
But, back on topic, that might not sound that different because the result was probably the exact same, but it was very different when you add Senjutsu into the mix. The reason being, is that the Source of someone is very distinct. Even if they are part of this specific race, and share similarities with those of the same race, there was always something different.
FAT felt dark, but the light was pouring into her being, which was then being enveloped by the darkness. A Fallen Angel is dark, and an Angel is light. This could mean, in the order that it was explained, that FAT is naturally lighter than other Fallen Angels, as most fall terribly into their cardinal sin.
No matter how dark FAT becomes, there will always be more light appearing, here and there, between the cracks. If it was possible to revert to an Angel, someone like FAT would be able to do so. Now that was an interesting theory to consider. An Angel could fall by losing God's grace, but what about the opposite? Could they obtain God's grace, even if they had previously lost it?
Eh, thoughts for another time.
"Wait," FAT uttered with a blink, looking between Kunou, then me. "You two have Senjutsu?"
I could only facepalm. Apparently, these idiots hadn't filled her in! Like, seriously. And then they give her the role to literally sneak up to us? Who practices Senjutsu, which can literally sense the life-force of everyone around them? I mean, if it was someone like Azazel, the Governor-General of the Grigori, or a master of Senjutsu, they would've been able to slip under the radar from the two of us. But to just not tell her what she was dealing with? Did they want her to fail?
"Seriously? Did nobody tell you that I could use Senjutsu?" I asked the girl, mirth in my tone at the thought of superior beings like Fallen Angels forgetting to mention something that important. I felt the need to punch Dohnaseek in the face until he wakes up and ask him why he was an idiot, but I didn't really feel like walking over to him to do something as small as that.
"Well," FAT glanced away, a nervous drop of sweat gliding down her cheek. "I might've been playing on my phone during the strategy meeting, so I might've missed it..."
The two of us had blank faces as FAT revealed this piece of important information that completely changed everything. I take back everything I said. To have someone as incompetent as FAT on the other side was certainly amusing in so many meanings of the word, and I will definitely laugh over this later. It'll be our little inside joke.
"What's your name?" I asked her without any inflections in my tone, to convey how serious this matter definitely is, and not that I was preparing to further use this situation as a means of a joke later.
"M-Mittelt."
I nodded, a sly smile attempting to tug onto my lips as Kunou simply stared from where she sat on her legs with a downward gaze and wide eyes as she wrapped her head around the situation, unbelieving that she had taken someone like that seriously earlier.
"If you ever join my team, I'm going to take away your phone privileges and ban you from being incompetent. Because if not, I think I might just throw you out a window." I wouldn't, but it was all for the laughs later when she realizes that I was playing with her.
"...Right." She looked down, for some reason being affected by the nonserious threat which she probably thought was serious due to my tone. Maybe she's received this same threat before? Perhaps I should apologize, but she was an enemy, so I'll abstain for now. But, adding insult to injury, like pouring more gasoline into a fire, Kunou swung one of her nine tails at Mittelt's left cheek, knocking her head to the side from the sudden blow.
I glanced at Kunou for the surprise attack, which seemed to have stunned Mittelt more than hurt her. However, the effect Kunou was probably going for apparently didn't work, as Mittelt turned back to her with apparent stars in her eyes.
"Do it again." She told Kunou, a strange tone in her voice. Realizing her intent, I turned to Kunou quickly.
"Don't do–!" I attempted but Kunou acted far too fast and swung another tail at Mittelt's cheek, who took the blow gleefully and her lips blossomed into a smile. The next moment– Mittelt moved far faster than what I thought was possible for her after getting beaten (though she probably just recovered for the most part) and wrapped her arms around Kunou's tail, earning a red-face from the fox girl at the sudden grasping of her tails. Mittelt ran her hands through the soft fur as she pressed her face against her tails. "I warned you..." I told Kunou as I placed a hand against my face, exhaling hot air as I shook my head.
I've had experience with this exact scenario. The tails of a Kitsune – they are actually unbelievably soft, especially when they're given the proper care they need. And Kunou is a Kitsune Princess. If a regular Kitsune's tail was soft, Kunou's was soft.
"Oh, my, God! This is, like, soooo soft and fluffy! I love it!" Giggling happily as if she was a normal little girl getting a big animal plushie from her father at a festival, Mittelt practically melted with Kunou's tails, much to the fox girl's horror and joy. Horror, because Mittelt was touching her tails and not stopping any time soon (plus she was kind of an enemy who had just attacked us) and joy from having her tails touched.
Make no mistake; Kunou liked being petted on her head and having her tails brushed. She liked the contact and often tried to monopolize it whenever possible. Yasaka told me that all young animal-like Youkai was like this because of how sensitive their ears, or tails, could be. That, or they were just a pervert.
I secretly believed Yasaka was talking about a certain Youkai she knew given the look in her eyes as she looked away, but as I valued my life, I didn't want to ask. If that pervert was herself – well, I didn't want to know what she'd do, so I decided to refrain from ever asking that question.
And now, I was seeing what it looked like from an outside perspective. Usually, it was just me who was petting Kunou or stroking/brushing her tails. But now that I'm looking at it... couldn't this be compared to groping a woman on the train, or bus, or just about anywhere? I mean, Kunou's face was completely red! She practically transformed into a tomato! Is this what I do to her!?
I like to think I do it with class, at the very least, but I'm sincerely doubting my intentions now. Panting from the sensation, Kunou hung her head down as her hands helped steady her so as to stop her from falling against the ground. Her body shook as Mittelt rubbed her cheek on one of her tails – I couldn't even tell the order at this point – and with a red face, looked up with her lips speaking what I could barely make out as a prayer.
"Right, so." I could only state as I rapidly blink my eyes, shaking my head slightly. "Enough of that." Reaching forward, I grabbed Mittelt by the collar and pulled her roughly away from the girl who looked like she was dying from heat stroke and tossed her back, making sure to place myself between the two.
I felt Kunou reach up with her left hand and clutch the hem of my shirt, and a very small "thank you" reached my ears. I felt a little happy as her older brother at that moment... I was definitely teasing her when we get back home. I might as well not act like the scene made me want to back off from such acts. It's how I show my love, dang it!
"What do you think you're doing!?" Mittelt grumbled out bitterly as she rubbed her buttocks after it had broken her fall. Scowling at me, Mittelt seemed to have reverted back to her normal form, as she stared at me like a human would an ant that was annoying them. "I am the great Mittelt! How dare a mere insect like you touch and throw me around? I'll kill you!"
"Doubt it." I flatly told her as I crossed my arms. The girl flinched from my tone, but it only caused her scowl to deepen. "Now then, be a good little girl and I might let you pet my sister's head."
"Really!?" Mittelt beamed, scowl disappearing without a trace and an open-mouthed smile taking its place. I felt Kunou tense behind me, but she seemed resigned to her fate as her head drooped even lower.
"Eh, maybe. Anyway, why did you guys attack us?"
Mittelt pouted as she answered the question. "Well, when we arrived in town, we found that a rather powerful presence existed here that wasn't the Devils playing school, so we decided – and by we, I mean Raynare – that whoever this person was, would die. When we found it was a human, we might've... gotten a little cocky."
"Makes sense, given how only one of you attacked me previously." I sighed, rubbing my temples as I thought on the situation, making sure to remember the name of this 'Raynare'. Even if she hadn't said it, I know that they have their own mission that they were sent here to do. She might've been trying to hide the fact, but it was so painfully obvious. There was no reason for a Fallen Angel to go to a town like this, where literally the little sister of Satan resided. Two of them, in fact. Not unless there was a reason. A reason like...
"The [Boosted Gear]?" I asked her, and she immediately blanched and looked away as she failed to whistle due to the panic at being called out so quickly. "Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Just tell your superior to back away from the idiot and we'll be good. He's a friend of mine, see?"
Mittelt giggled awkwardly as she nodded her head, eyes wide. "R-right. I'll let her, uh, know."
"Great! Kunou? Knock her out."
"Wait, wha–?" Mittelt turned towards us, blinking her eyes in surprise as fear began to bubble up from her chest, but before she could even complete her question, Kunou ducked underneath my legs and struck Mittelt with all nine of her tails in the gut, effectively taking her breath away in one go. Then, as she began to double over in pain with her hands holding her stomach, Kunou struck upwards with her tails, nailing Mittelt in the chin, and causing her head to get flung up as her eyes rolled over.
She then collapsed behind herself, legs awkwardly sprawled out to the side, unconscious. Kunou huffed, standing tall over the Fallen Angel with what had to be pride. Then, pointing a finger in her face as she leaned forward, Kunou dished out additional damage – which promptly went ignored as Mittelt wasn't able to hear it, on account of her being, well, knocked out.
"Take that you little failed chocolate bar! What are you, snickers!? Because I'm definitely laughing at you!" And like she said, Kunou faked laughing like an evil villain. Where does she get that from? Who is trying to spoil my little sister!? If I ever find them, I'm going to– wait, that person is me, isn't it?
...Good job me! Keep up the good work!
Practically slapping myself on the back for a job well done, I plopped a hand onto Kunou's shoulder, interrupting her from her make-believe and herded her away from the crow rejects. Well, at least one was cute and made for a nice conversation. As I congratulated Kunou on her fight, my mind couldn't help but turn back to a certain problem in the making.
In other words, Issei. He was definitely set to die if Mittelt's reaction was anything to go by, which given her sudden horrible acting abilities, she was probably scared stiff to function properly at the thought of getting found out. She really had no chance, didn't she? So, more than likely, it was this 'Raynare' who killed Issei. I didn't know what to make of that right now.
Since it happened somewhere else, and most likely during our fight, was it anything to concern myself with? Or...
I didn't want to think about what I wanted to say after the 'or', so I decided not to think about it for now. I'll know when I see Issei, considering that the Devils definitely wouldn't let something like that [Boosted Gear] just slip through their fingers without even attempting to Reincarnate him. What my heart will decide – it was definitely something I couldn't anticipate from a logical standpoint. Because emotions were never logical. They simply happen, without rhyme, nor reason.
REVIEWS
Lazymanjones96 - Thanks for being the first reviewer! And thanks; I'll certainly try to make things interesting considering canon will be changing ever so slightly, until it's completely different. I have some ideas for the future... ufufufu.
–[xXx]–
Hey everyone, first off, I'd like to thank you all for favoriting/following the story so far! I also want to apologize for taking some time to upload this chapter. On the day after I uploaded the first, I had a nasty bout of light-headedness throughout most of the day, and I didn't want to strain myself. After that? Well, Crusader Kings III was a bust considering my computer is shit and can't handle it (I ordered some replacement parts to allow me to play the game), and editing through this chapter was a lot more difficult than I had previously thought! It was a lot bigger than I had first believed...
Anyway, I have the chapter done now, and uploaded considering your reading this ending A/N right now, so... yeah! How was the chapter? I know there isn't that much dialogue yet, there will be more as we go ahead. Right now, I simply want to get through this arc , so a little rushing, but I'm also trying to characterize the characters with what little dialogue I can throw out and through some descriptions here and there.
Not the best way to go about doing things, but don't worry, other characters will get more screentime so you can really get a look at their personality. As for Issei? Well, we're going to get a better look next chapter about his side of things, so look forward to that!
Rodel's an interesting character; he has a no-kill policy and he is arrogant about his strength (he holds back constantly because he's stronger, which can definitely be his comeuppance in the future), but he's also a kind young man and rather smart for his age (in some ways). Look forward to how he'll change in the future, cause, oh boy, what a ride it will be!
Anyway, if you enjoyed, please leave a follow/favorite, and if you have the time, a review to tell me your thoughts would be nice. Be it about his supposed harem, events in the future, how I'm doing, any mistakes I've made - anything at all! I welcome it all! And with that...
Thanks for reading!