After this chapter things are going to get crazy with fights and battle scenes everywhere. I'm having so much fun with this!

Deviation 1.2

Pre-Game Prep

"And there team Hakaishin is now formed, " Shiro announced as Saya put away her phone.

"And I know how to add people if we find anyone who's willing," Saya said brightly, " thanks Shiro-kun."

"Ah, my pleasure," Shiro responded while ignoring the chilling aura of her brothers directed towards him.

"Anything to report Ryota?" He asked the pudgy boy.

"In the chat people are kinda going crazy," Ryota answered while still looking at his phone," apparently a bunch are talking about how factions are popping up in guilds, looks like we might see people on the same side fighting each other out there."

"That's to be expected, there's no rule that says anything about fighting with one's own teams or guild, so some falling apart and others moving to secure positions of power wouldn't be a surprise," Shiro noted.

"They're also talking about nexus points and minions," Ryota said while doing his best to read through what he got.

"Nexus point? I'll search the rules again. There's still more pages left to look at and we have," Shiro paused as he glanced at the clock," 12 minutes, I'll speed read as much as I can."

"Right," Saya said, but it felt like she forgot something. She closed her eyes in thought and focused on someone missing.

"Ah, Salomon-kun!" Saya said loudly, finally remembering her familiar. She could ask him for back up on information retrieval.

"Hm, Salomon-kun, Saya, who is that?" Moritaka asked while he searched through his phone as well.

"My familiar," Saya answered.

Jin and Ragna looked up at the mention of a familiar, because they both had one too.

"A familiar?" Shiro said looking up, " as in a familiar spirit, summoned through magic formula, and bound to your."

" Basically," Saya answered, she wondered what had Shiro so animated.

"Does it look like a bipedal goat with horns and in a two tailed butler's suit?" Ragna questioned.

"I, yes, how did you know Ragna?" Saya requested.

"Cause mine's named Solomon," he answered.

"It would seem we three have similar circumstances," Jim stated," mine is named Salome."

"...Salomon-kun might cry from just how suspicious he looks right now," Saya plainly stated with a sigh.

"Oh, mine's definitely getting an earful," Ragna grumbled.

With a sigh Saya put up the phone to her face and called out, " Salomon-kun, I need you."

In a flash of his formula Salomon-kun appeared with, " how may I serve Mistress Saya."

"I wanted to introduce you to everyone, also," Saya was about to say more until she noticed Ragna stood behind her familiar with glaring eyes.

His red one was glowing.

Sitri glanced his side wide eyed; when did Ragna move without a sound?

"Hm master what is- gyaahh," was all Salomon could let out as Ragana's black hand latched onto the diminutive goat butler's head.

Red poured from Salomon to the fox like a wolf's black arm.

"What in the world?" Shiro muttered as the hazy figure became more visible.

Unbeknownst to Saya, when Salomon appeared to all observers it seemed that Saya froze and stared blankly into space. Ragana and Jin recognized an intervention with a glance both decided Ragna should take care of it

Ragna removed his arm with an unamused gaze as the familiar looked towards him in shock.

"You know, based on the weird stuff Shiro reads I would've thought that it would be big and scary looking," Ryota commented with smile looking Saya's familiar," but he looks like he couldn't fight his way through a paper bag,"

"Hm, that vassal does not seem to be much," Shino commented.

"It does look pretty wimpy," Sitri added.

Moritaka had the tact not to further scare the creature as if they talked about it. It looked like it was going overwrought with all this attention. Even if he did agree that the creature seemed fragile.

"Hey, don't pick on lil'Salomon," Saya admonished," he's sensitive."

With tears in his eyes he hid behind his master saying, " Master, I'm not supposed to be seen, f-father said that it's too dangerous!"

"Father?" Saya questioned, she did her best to keep judgement from her voice. It wasn't just that that Salomon somehow knew her that made him suspicious. It was how it felt more like she was dealing with a part of herself than another person.

It was odd, like he budded from her.

Salomon gasped while hiding from wide eyed from behind his sceptre while murmuring continuously," oh no, I wasn't supposed to say that."

Ragna's gaze didn't leave his form. It was weirdly deeply connected with Saya, just like Solomon was tied with him

"Whatever, don't got time for this," Ragna said with a sigh," Solomon get out here."

In a flash of it's own formula a mirror image of Salomon appeared, its fur was a spiky white and its coat was a deeper black with red buttons. It's red eyes were narrower than Salomon's, angrier looking.

Solomon went to speak, but Ragna groaned.

"Seriously," Ragna interrupted as his black claw wrapped around the creature's form. It yelped as whatever effect Ragna drained from it disappeared

"Master what are you doing!?" Solomon whined, " This is...is...who are you!?"

The white goat pointed at Salomon who just looked like his world was crashing down around him.

"I, this is impossible, I'm one of a kind !" Salomon cried out.

"That is my-"

"Enough!" Ragna roared, causing both familiars to hug each other in fright.

"Oi, Jin…."

Jin pointed to the goat familiar with a blue suit and highlights hiding behind him wide eyed.

" Good, Saya it's your show," Ragna announced as he went to lean on the wall again.

"Kay," was all Saya said before she turned to the three familiars. They circled each other in disbelief, it was like watching cats sizing each other up.

It made Saya wonder what Salomon meant when he said one of a kind.

"Alright enough of that," Saya ordered, making the three jump," we need you all to figure out anything you can in the next… Shiro?"

"Five minutes," Shiro said as he sifted through the rules on the forum. Why were there 13 pages of filler about the system and the new mechanics of the enclosed space being the app's normal battle system? It'd be an interesting read if he had time to actually digest it

"Look through the app's event rules and memorize all you can," Saya said.

"Event? There should be no such thing in the app," Salomon said in confusion," but don't worry support is my speciality."

"Just find what you can, pick out what's important, and send it to everyone here," Saya said. She doubted that they'll make a difference, but every little bit of info could help.

"Leave it to me/ Understood/ no prob'," the three familiar said at the same time. They glanced at each other, then glared as all three disappeared.

Saya wondered if exposing them would be worth it.

Several chimes as notification hit their phones.

All three familiars popped out in eager to please expressions, " all important rules you'll need/ Condensed it all for you/ I even got the map function ready!"

All three familiars paused and glared at each other again.

"I-it hasn't even been five seconds and they found all that we're going to need," Shiro said in shock.

"Hey, there is a map," Ryota commented," nexus points are where minions flow out, and count for 1,000 points. Huh."

"Should have guessed that just from the name alone," Shiro muttered as he read more, " minions count from 50 points to 500 typically ranging from toughness, hm."

"So we'll need to take out 40 of the tougher ones to make back our losses," Saya interjected.

"The nexus itself will be worth something, you'll also get equal points total of the team with the highest total in the nexuses area of that ward," Shiro then focused on another point," the Raid boss isn't static either it'll be moving from ward to ward."

Shiro smirked as he remarked," your familiars did a great job, most teams won't even know there is a map function to look for with how sudden all of this is."

With a smile Saya turned towards the familiar and said," you guys did great we'll definitely have to give you guys a treat later."

The familiars preened at the praise.

"That's interesting, get a spot open?"

Saya turned to the…

"...cute," she mumbled to herself as she held back from jumping on the new cat in her sight.

A spiky haired tiger therian walked towards them from an alleyway. He was covered in a bikers leather jacket and pants combo and leather boots. His tattered scarf matched the orange of his fur and brought his whole look together.

"So you make your presence kno - Saya desist from your actions!" Jin exclaimed.

The cowlick of Saya's hair waved back and forth like an insect antenna. The amused tiger therian had up his phone as Saya activated the invite function.

"Welcome to the team Nomad-Kun," she greeted brightly while bumping up her chest. Saya really wanted to snuggle this one, but now was simply not the time.

Ragna just wiped his face with his hand in exasperation. When did his sister become a manizer- meninizer? Was that a thing? If it wasn't it should be a thing.

"He looks pretty cool," Sitri stated.

Ragna wondered what was up with this kid's focus on the word 'cool.'

"We'll have to set ground rules about adding people to the team," Shiro commented as he looked at the time. They had three minutes left until the fasco goes full tilt. Now wasn't really the time to argue.

"Sturdy," Shino appraised," he'll be useful."

"I suppose," Moritaka said holding his chin in thought. He recognized the tiger from the arena in Ikebukuro. Was he not a fellow Berserker to Kengo? If so, why could he join a team unaffiliated with them?

With that Moritaka knew that something was off.

The tiger man himself recognized Moritaka. He saw the dog boy had him pegged by the look on his face. But Nomad's time at the Berserkers was always a temp thing to do a job. He left and went to work wherever and whenever.

He had rent to pay, he didn't have time to be picky about jobs!

"Let's get along…." Saya gushed with a bit of a jump. She was just showing off what she had by the jiggle.

Nomad just nodded along with the naive girl. She was a cute one too, maybe ten years when she matured a bit. She did just let him into her group without vetting him.

Then Saya muttered to his face" ...mister spying on us from the start."

From those cold narrowed eyes, Nomad got that she was not as naive as he thought. Maybe he'd get to ask her out in about five. She might be a fun time after he got his vengeance. He watched as Saya walked to her group.

Nomad stayed a little ways away from them. The guy in the armor faced towards him had a field of killing intent he wasn't willing to test at the moment.

Nomad wanted a little bonus from this weird killing game they were gonna play while he worked. Every little bit helped when the rent was involved.

Saya felt Ryota's judging gaze as she walked back.

She turned towards the tubby friend with crossed arms and said," what?"

"Tease," he accused with a flat gaze.

"So?" She questioned while pushing up under her chest.

Ryota rolled his eyes at the gesture.

She had these girls and she was going to use them no matter what!

The three familiars floated feeling forgotten with teary eyes.

I'm having fun with this. But I would like to hear a few more comments on what to improve. Beyond the writing, spell checker strangely doesn't cover much more than a few basic things for some reason. I'm actually going back and doing editing from time to time. Just the things I noticed.

Nomad is in play and Saya is not as easy as she looks or acts. As for why she acts like that? The answer involves the fact that she knows that she isn't flat anymore