Chapter 12: Back to the Main Attraction!
Ash and Akira slowly woke up. They both had an ache in their entire body and could barely remember what had happened; and both had been stripped down and bandaged by someone with good medical knowledge. "Where are we?" Akira asks looking around. Ash flexes his fingers and makes a fist, testing out how he felt.
"It would seem we passed out after the whole Devil fiasco." Ash said, seeing his clothes fixed up and cleaned by the foot of his bed along with Yamato. Akira similarly had his gear by his bed but Gilgamesh was stored away. "Is it just me or did it feel as if it were to be some original story arc to something, like if it were a test to gauge people's reactions?" Ash asked as he sat up and looked over his wounds which by now were healed.
The two began to grab their gear and redress. "Now that you mentioned it...maybe. I don't really know honestly." Akira said as they fully were dressed.
The pair nodded to one another and went out of the room they were in to see that it was their Inn they were put in. The place was rather dead as they went down the stairs before an Innkeeper came up to them. She smiled at them as she approached "Oh you're both awake! It's been a while since your friends brought you in." She says.
Ash spoke to her first. "Our friends dropped us off?" He asks, trying to remember. He and Akira both vaguely recall seeing them before blazing out but just barely.
"Oh yes; you both have been out for two and a half days now." The lady said as she went up to the counter. Ash thanks her for her time and they both decided to go out into the streets. Normal civilians were walking about as always doing daily tasks (although that one dressed in yellow looked kinda sus). The two decided to look for their friends as they were the last people they remember seeing before passing out from exhaustion and pain even if just barely. They weren't at the stables, nor were they wandering around on the streets.
"Where could they be? Not much to really do around here." Akira asked.
Ash was looming around as he walked. "I have no clue. It's not like them to do something aside from lazing around and being of no help." Ash said. Akira chuckled at his words.
Suddenly "Are you perhaps looking for your companions?" A voice said from behind them causing the two to turn around quickly, Akira jumping slightly as he was startled by the suddenness and held a hand over his heart.
"Arkham! Dear gods, don't sneak up on us like that." Akira said as they saw the man standing there, hood still up to cover his scars. Ash was looking around trying to understand where he came from because as it was he would have to have made some noise to get there.
"Apologies, I did not mean to frighten you." Arkham said calmly.
"You mentioned our friends, know where they are?" Ash asks him.
Arkham nods. "Yes I do; they went off on a quest with the woman who looks strangely similar to the water goddess Aqua to purify a lake. A noble gesture I would say." He says.
"Alrighty then. Guess we kick back and relax huh?" Akira says.
"Before you go" Arkham says holding up a hand to the human stopping his movement "I wished to thank you one last time. You've brought me peace of mind that the Devil is dead now. I may be unable to forgive myself or receive forgiveness from Kalina or Mary, but at least this is a step in reaching it." He said.
Akira smiled a genuine smile at this for once instead of his normal smirks. This version of Arkham was nothing like his DMC counterpart so far: no sacrificing his wife, no crazy plots to gain power, no Jester (thank the gods), and no betrayals. While there won't be a Lady here at least they have someone from that family alive still who has changed. "Hey don't sweat it man. Closing that portal was hard sure but now you can have some ease of mind." Akira tells him.
Arkham for once also gains a smile on his normally neutral face. "Thank you adventurers. Ash, your secret is safe with me so no need to worry. However I have one last request if you would." He says.
Akira looks to Ash who nods and speaks again finally. "Let's hear it." He says gesturing for Arkham to continue.
"When I summoned that Devil I was able to get a part of the power and knowledge it promised, it's how I could tell you are what you are. I fear however that this Devil will not be the last we see. I can feel that they know a portal can be opened again, and that those with the power are preparing to do so themselves." Arkham said.
Ash's eyes widened a bit. "So the Demon World...plans to invade?" He asks.
Arkham however gives a reassuring head shake. "Not on that level just yet; however if we allow them to open more portals uncontrollably then it will get there. A storm is approaching now, the Demons and Devils will be appearing more often then they previously did. My request correlates with this: I can offer assistance in locating these portals and Demonic entities while you two close them off. We could form our own group, or 'party' as you would say." Arkham says.
Ash looks to Akira and they move a bit to have a conversation privately. "Think they'll actually start popping up more?" Akira asks his companion.
Ash thinks for a moment before nodding. "It's almost guaranteed. My guess is they could never come here directly, but once Arkham opened that portal they found a means to do it from their side as well."
Akira sighed in annoyance. "So technically them coming would be his fault to huh? I guess it's a plus he is willing to help out. So what ya say? Wanna be bonafide Devil Hunters?" Akira asks.
Ash smirks. "Yes I do. This'll be fun." He says as they turn back to Arkham. "Alright, we'll do it." He tells him.
"Splendid. I shall keep in contact with you two; simply call out my name when you need me, until then have a pleasant life." Arkham said before walking off last then and disappearing around a corner.
Akira and Ash stare where he turned. "Ever wonder where he lives now?" Akira suddenly asks.
"That's...a good question. Maybe an Inn or with someone in town." Ash says simply as they turn and head toward the guild. When they enter they are met with cheers and people congratulating them on taking on whatever they did to KO them for so long, and then they sat at their usual spot and waited. And kept waiting.
Akira finally had enough of sitting there doing nothing. "This is fucking bullshit!" He called out slumping over. "Why did they leave us behind?" He complains as he puts his face on the table and looks to Ash.
The Dark Slayer had an amused smirk at his companions' boredom. "We were exhausted after the whole ordeal; they must have wanted us to get our rest and wake up naturally rather than risk waking us up when we weren't fully recovered." Ash says.
Akira sits back up with a confused face. "Hey what's with that anyway? I get you being clocked out after fighting for two days straight and all but why was I?" He asks.
Ash sighs. "You said those two days for you were spent in an illusion made by the Devil's magic correct?" Akira nods at this. "And you also said you broke through multiple before being completely free?" Ash asks, again getting a nod from Akira. "Then there's your explanation: you may not have been doing any physical activity but you still were mentally fighting through the illusions. My guess is it was also using your magic to keep them up so mentally and magically you were exhausted." He said. Akira gives an 'Ahh' as it did make sense to him.
The two went back into silence as an adventurer walked up to them. "Hey, you two the ones with that group of weirdos who went to purify the lake?" She asks. They look up to her and immediately take notice of one thing: the great sword upon her back that gave off a 'holy' aura. It had some cloth wrapped around the blade close to the cross-guard which was a wide v-shape. She wore a long black coat with inner red lining with a shoulder pad over her left shoulder overtop it, underneath said coat was a grey shirt covered by a basic piece of chest armor. She had on brown pants and shin-high leather boots that were a reddish-brown color. Her pale skin seemed to match well with her white hair, and her icy blue eyes were pricing but not unpleasantly so.
"If you mean the group that has a blue haired girl, a small girl with red eyes, and a chick in crusader armor, then yes we are with them...even though I think it's not that good of an idea associating with them in case of future events." Akira says, joking at the end only slightly as they already had a close call with a Devil King General.
The girl nods and smirks. "Oh so you noticed that to huh? Well they're through the gate now if you were waiting for them. Noticed you were here for a while." She says.
"Thanks." Ash says as they get up. "What's your name? You seem new here." He said to her.
She sighed. "That obvious huh? I'm not from this place and am here on an important assignment with my partner...who is coming over it seems." She said looking over her shoulder. Approaching was a tall, muscular man; this girl was about the height of Kazuma (so 5'4), but this man was even taller then Akira who was just a few inches taller than Darkness (putting him around 6'5 at the most). He had dark skin that in their original life he'd be classified as African-American, his hair was mostly gone and what he did have atop his head and face was greying. He wore a navy blue surcoat with a brown leather belt at his natural waist over a no-sleeve brown tunic. It also covered black trousers with knee-high brown boots. And the weapon on his back? It also gave a holy aura like the girls sword, but it was far more intense. A weapon that could only be described as a sword-spear of sorts: it had a long handle but the blade was almost like a strange uppercase y with two sharp edges and a cross guard at the connecting point of the handle and blade.
He had a hand on his hip as he looked at the girl relaxed. "Come on Eileen, ya can't just run off like that." He says to the girl.
She chuckles slightly and looks up to him. "Oh please Damarius, if anyone even tried to do anything they'd be face first in the dirt knocked out." The girl, Eileen, said waving her hand as if it was nothing.
Damarius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not the point Eileen. It's my job to protect you while we're out, but it's your job to protect that sword as well. Anyone with the right skill and luck could take that thing from you." He says pointing to it before he notices the two sitting before his companion. "Oh sorry you two, kinda rude to just be casually talking like this." He said, however he kept glancing at Ash- something the half Devil took notice of.
Akira waved his apology off. "No problem man. Eileen was it? Thanks for the info. We should go meet them right Ash?" Akira asks. He looked but noticed Ash staring at the sword spear Damarius had with an intense gaze. "Uhhh Ash? Hellooooo?" He asks, waving his hand before the teens face.
Ash snaps out of his trance and nods. "Indeed, let's get going Akira." He says, grabbing Yamato and walking out the door with his friend behind him.
Within the adventurers guild the two holy sword holders looked to the door. "Well those two seem rather normal considering the party I've seen them around." Eileen says simply.
Damarius has narrowed eyes at the door however. "Eileen, you need to sharpen your senses. Could you not feel it?" He asks her as some lightning seems to spark from his hands. "That boy Ash, he has Demonic Power...he's a Devil." He says.
Eileen's eyes widen and look up to the man, before looking back to the door. "He is huh? Then that must mean he's the target...a Devil's a Devil, to think that dirty creature would make itself look human like that. Rat bastard fucker." She said.
"We'll see to it the Devil is taken care of. That is why we are here after all...why the Order of Blades sent us here." Damarius says as both of them take out a pendant on a chain around their necks, the symbol of a sword pointed up into the skull of a horned beast as if slaying it.
With Akira and Ash they had caught up to their party...only to see a strange sight. ""Huh?"" They ask and tilt their heads in sync. Aqua was in a cage, quivering and singing to herself in a broken and terrified voice. "Soooo...what's all this about?" Ash asks gesturing to Aqua.
The group of three turned to their two friends and smiled while running up to them. The first to reach them was Megumin who quickly hugged Ash. "You're ok!" She said happily. Kazuma and Darkness caught up as the group were talking and catching up. The two explained to them how they had fought a Demon and closed a portal to Hell the two days they were gone, and the party described to them the events of how and why Aqua got into and stayed in a battered cage.
Akira bonked Kazuma on the head. "So you mean to tell me you just sat there and let the gators use the cage as a chew toy!? What would you've done if they got in!? You'd lose the quest AND a party member!" He said. Ash nodded in agreement as Megumin stood next to him.
"So Ash, you both got these things called 'Devil Hand's'?" She asks.
Ash chuckles and shakes his head. "Devil Arms. But yeah, I got one too. I can show you sometime if you'd like; just a day for us to do whatever." He said. Akira and Kazuma heard this and secretly smirked to themselves, chuckling on the inside.
'He's shooting his shot!' They both thought at once as they wrapped an arm around each other's neck.
"Sure! We can practice your weapon next!" Megumin said with a smile.
'Great success!' The two thought in sync again.
Just before anything more could be said or done another voice yells out. "Lady Goddess! Lady Goddess!" It says as a man rushes up to the cage holding Aqua. "Why are you in such a place?" He asks hurriedly as he grabbed hold of the bars and bent them with his bare hands. He reaches in and holds a hand out to the girl but is stopped by Kazuma.
"Oi! Don't act so familiar with my companion. The fact she isn't reacting is evidence enough she doesn't know you; so who exactly are you?" He asks the man. He was in some pretty high end armor with a big sword that screamed OP. And the fact he knew Aqua was a goddess? Most definitely a reincarnation.
He ignored Kazuma and tried to reach further in to grab Aqua only to be stopped by Darkness this time. She was now acting as a true shield to her comrades instead of hoping to be hit by an enemy as usual. "I must ask you to move." The man said; he was keeping his cool and obviously didn't want to start trouble, but if he had to he would. "If you do not then-" his words were cut off as suddenly a thin blade was next to his neck and a hard grip was on his shoulder.
"You'll what pray tell?" Ash asks.
"Make a move and I break your shoulder, then he cuts you to pieces." Akira tells the man.
Kazuma, seeing the situation was getting especially tense now, went up to Aqua and spoke to her. Whatever he whispered into her ear got her to stand back up and walk over to the man. "Who are you?" She asks, making him face fault.
"G-goddess! How could you say such a thing? It is I, Mitsurugi Kyouya! I received the sword Gram from you!" He said in shock and gestured to the sword on his back.
Aqua seemed to take a moment to think, as Kazuma analyzed the man more. 'He looks like some manga protagonist, bet he got that sword as a gift since his name is clearly Japanese too.'
Aqua seemed to finally 'remember' (not really) as she snapped her fingers with a smile. "Oh yes! Sorry I totally forgot about you, you see there are many people I see to send here so I can't help but forget some here or there." She said simply.
The Kyouya guy sighs and smiles nonetheless as Ash and Akira move a bit away from him but still keep an eye on him just in case. "I guess it has been a while since we spoke Lady Aqua. As your chosen hero I've worked hard: I am a Sword master and am now level 37, I've taken on many quests and difficult creatures...that reminds me, what are you doing here Lady Aqua? And...why were you locked up in a cage?" He asks her looking over the cage he bent and stealing a glance to Kazuma.
Ash noticed this as he sheathed Yamato now. "She is that man's starting item. From what we were told she was in the cage to purify a lake to keep her safe." He says as Akira nods at the details. Kyouya takes exception to this in a not so good way.
"What!?" He yells out looking to Kazuma. "What are you thinking!? Bringing a Goddess to this wild and then locking her in a cage! It's preposterous! Too stupid!" He says grabbing the poor teen by his collar and shaking him.
Aqua waves her hands at him with a smile onset face. "Oh no! It's all ok, I'm living happily here and am not angry about being brought to this world. Once we beat the Devil King I can go back, and today I did a quest that was scary at first but was somewhat fun. No one got hurt and I earned 300,000 Eris for it!" She said proudly.
"What!? Only 300,000 for such a sacrifice...the way you are treated is too illogical Lady Aqua! You are a goddess! To be treated in such a manner...where do you stay at night?" He asks suddenly.
Aqua spoke first. "With everyone in the stables." She says simply.
Akira raises his hand. "Ash and I live in an Inn right next to each other in Axel." He says simply. Ash lightly taps him on the side basically telling him to be quiet.
"In...the stables!?" He yells out tightening his grip on poor Kazuma. Turning to the two Devil Hunters he has an angry look for them as well. "And the two of you don't even offer a place to stay!?" He says. Ash was getting annoyed to the point of his eye slightly twitching. Akira was the one to stop him this time, placing a hand on his as he was drawing Yamato.
"No boy. No slicing and dicing random people on the street." He said lightly patting the shorter teens head. This earned him a growl from Ash making him freeze and stop swiftly.
Darkness moved forward and grabbed Mitsurugi's hand and had a slightly more protective look in her eyes. "I must ask you to remove your hands now. You've been rude to our party, my friends, when you don't even know them." She says sternly.
Ash was loved next to Megumin who he had to stop from casting an explosion right there. "If I can't cut him you can't blow him up...though it'd be great to see." He says covering her mouth. Mitsurugin gains an excited glean to his eyes when he notices the two girls.
"A Crusader and an Arch Wizard? Such top tier classes and gear...and not too bad looking either." He says. Kazuma and Ash growl at him in anger. "You truly do have great luck in finding companions; it doesn't make sense though! Don't you feel at all ashamed for treating Lady Aqua and such great class holders like this!? You are of the weakest job category right?"
Ash had grown greatly annoyed by this point. This man barges on over, is rude to his friend, insults one of them excessively, and even tried to talk about his giiiirrrllll...wait what? Ash shook that last bit out of his head.
The rude bastard continued. "It must be hard on you all to live in such conditions. Please, join my party! It would be perfect: I am a Sword master, my warrior comrade and you as a crusader: along with my thief comrade, this arch wizard and Lady Aqua. What a perfect combination, it's a match made in heaven." He said excitedly. The three males of the party all had narrowed eyes at the man: excluding them on purpose huh? Alright then...Ash, Kazuma, and Akira all looked at the three girls seeing what they'd do with his offer.
"His voice is filled with narcissism, it made me cringe. He frightens me; feels wrong." Aqua said as she backed up a bit. One no.
"I normally prefer active people over passive people, but for some reason I can't physically accept this man. For once I want to hit him instead of being hit." Darkness said with a confused look. Two no's.
Ash looked to Megumin, who looked back to him with a small smile of reassurance before looking to Mitsurugi. "Can I blow him up? I want to blow him up. That stupid face that's putting on an elite front because he never had to go through hard work before." She says. Three no's.
Kazuma smirks and pats the guy on the shoulder. "Well looks like my companions don't wanna join you. So sorry, if we gotta head back to the guild and report our completion of a quest. Come on guys." He says grabbing the reins of the horse to lead it and the cage. However Mitsurugi moved forward and blocked his path. Kazuma's eye twitched a bit. "Can you move out of the way?"
Mitsurugi gained a gleam in his eye that screamed trouble. "You said that you chose Lady Aqua as your 'thing' to bring here right? Like how I asked her for my sword? I simply cannot see my benefactor who granted me such power be lowered to the simple state of an item like this. So...how about a combat wager?" He asks.
Kazuma squinted with an exasperated look. "Mmhmmm?" He hums out with his arms crossed.
"It's a simple bet if you would. You wager Lady Aqua as the 'thing' you brought with you, and I wager any one thing you wish for should you win."
Kazuma looked exasperated while Akira grounded his teeth a bit. "Fine, I accept...take this!" Kazuma suddenly says rushing forward with a sheathed sword in his right hand swinging.
"Wha-!? Wait!" Mitsurugi yelled out. Ash watched as he moved his sword, which was far bigger than Kazuma's, to block. But the half human smirked as Kazuma reached his left hand out and a bright light began to shine.
"Steal!" Kazuma called out. The light brightened more as he cast the spell. When it all dimmed down Ash and Akira both had to hold in their laughter at the sight it presented to them. There Kazuma stood with Mitsurugi's sword barely able to hold it up.
"Hey give that back!" Mitsurugi said angrily.
Ash walked over and observed the situation. "Sadly Mitsurugi it seems you have lost this bout." He says keep a hand up to his chin.
"What do you mean!?" Mitsurugi asks.
Kazuma looks to his friend. "Yeah what do you mean?"
Ash cleared his throat as he gestured to Mitsurugi. "Well, for one you are disarmed. You have no way of fighting aside from bare hands. But you are a swordsman so this would look rather wrong. And that's the second point." He gestures his hand to Kazuma while looking to Mitsurugi. "You not only challenged a mere starter with your own legendary equipment when he has nothing, but you lost to him. Your honor as a swordsman is devastated because of this." Ash says simply.
Mitsurugi looked to Ash and then to Kazuma before the realization of Ash's words struck. "You're...right. But still! I need to help Lady Aqua; I will not accept defeat until she is-"
Ash simply poked the giant sword in Kazuma's hand making it tilt and fall, hitting Mitsurugi on the head with the flat side. He was KO'd the moment the heavy metal had touched him but to add insult to injury he crumpled to the ground hard. "Well that's-"
"You scumbag!" A girl suddenly yells out.
"Cheater! Fight honorably!" Another says from the same direction.
Ash and Kazuma look to see Mitsurugi's two companions, both female, looking at them angrily and pointing accusing fingers at them.
"Hey, I won no matter how you look at it" Kazuma said as he kicked Mitsurugi's downed from a bit to show he wasn't moving "and because I won I get any one thing I want right? Then I'll be taking his sword."
One of the girls gained an overconfident smirk. "No point to that! You can't even use that sword! Only Kyouya can use the magical sword Gram, no one else! It chose him as its champion!" She says.
Kazuma looks to Aqua who was poking Mitsurugi with a stick. "Is that true?" He asks her.
She stands back up and nods. "Regrettably it's true. The sword Gram was given to this guy as an exclusive gift; it granted incredible arm strength beyond human limits, and could cut through solid steel like it were a mere vegetable. Sadly if you were to use it it would be nothing but a normal sword." She says.
Kazuma looks over to Ash before looking back to Aqua. "How about his sword? Yamato?" He asks, making Ash growl.
Aqua again shook her head. "That's a different story. Because of the sword nature you'd be overwhelmed and possibly either driven is we or outright die. You have to be 'special' like Ash to use Yamato, because instead of mana it uses that 'special juices'." She says before getting lightly tapped on the head by the half Devil.
"Do not refer to it like that. It sounds weird; and I told you so already Kazuma." He said.
Kazuma shrugged. "Worth a try to see how true it was anyway. Well I'll be off with this then. Tell him when he wakes up that since he wanted this dual he can't complain. Let's go guys we gotta turn in the quest." Kazuma says as the party begins to walk in the direction of the guild. Ash hangs back for a moment as he watches the two girls.
"Hey hold it-" the girl stopped talking as suddenly a cut appeared on her face with a small lien of blood coming out of it. Ash stayed there looking back, sword returning to its scabbard.
"You seem to not understand the situation Mitsurugi is in. He lost, as a swordsman his honor is ruined so he must fix that." He says to them.
"Oh yeah!? What would you know about being a swordsman and honor!?" The other asks as the first one who got cut was still shocked. She didn't even see him move or take the sword out, he was so fast.
Ash looks to the second girl and then holds up Yamato. "I myself am a swordsman. I will not acknowledge Mitsurugi as honorable for what he has done here; and you two are simply trampling on that broken honor even more. Leave while he has some dignity left." Ash tells them, a warning to abide by.
The second girl was about to move but the first stopped her. "Lets just leave..." she said with eyes filled with fear toward Ash. If he was that fast for a simple cut...she didn't even want to know what he'd do if they didn't listen to his warning. The second girl saw the first's fear and nodded before grabbing Kyouya and dragging him off.
Ash looked back to his group who looked at him with some shock. "Man...totally bad ass!" Akira says getting a smirk from the halfling.
"You guys go ahead, I wanna do some shopping while I'm here since my room is empty of food and drink." Ash said as he walked the opposite way of his party.
He was looking around in the market thinking of what to buy when he felt eyes on the back of his head. In response Ash walked to the farthest most area with no people around and went behind a building in an empty alleyway.
"I know you've been watching since before I parted with my group. Show yourselves." He says standing with the Yamato before him, both hands on the grip and scabbard touching the ground.
As he thought two people stepped forward; the very two people he and Akira had just met that day. Eileen and Damarius. The two looked at Ash with different expressions: Damarius was a simple neutral as he stared at the man before him, arms crossed and seeming on guard. Eileen however was looking at him with pure hate and anger. She had a hand in her swords grip about ready to pull it out and attack. Ash's guess that the only reason she hadn't yet was because Damarius told her not to.
"So it was you two huh? Why are you following me?" Ash asks, narrowing his eyes.
Eileen spoke first while pointing a finger at Ash. "Don't play dumb you Demon shitbag! We can smell it from here!" She says in an angry voice, very much different from the friendly one she used for him just a while ago that same day.
Ash sighs in annoyance. Yet another person who could easily detect his demonic power? He had to work on hiding it somehow. "While being called a 'shitbag' is a bit excessive, the first part isn't uncommon at this point." He says with his eyes closed.
Eileen growls and steps forward a bit. "So you admit it!? Your just a damn demon taking a human form!" She yells out charging forward, Ash feeling her presence move forward as Damarius tries to reach out to stop her.
She got her sword from her back and charged tip first, but was absolutely shocked when Ash brought up the Yamato, still in its scabbard, and hit her blade to the side with a parry. Both of the weapons vibrated in protest from the contact, but Ash was quicker to follow up from this than Eileen and thrust his scabbard forward hitting her in the stomach. Eileen took the hit but grabbed the scabbard as she flew back in the air and threw it at Ash. The teen quickly held Yamato up and allowed the scabbard to seamlessly slide back onto the katana, but was pushed back slightly from the force.
Eileen landed on her feet while slightly holding her stomach, a small bruise coming on after the hit. She and Ash locked eyes; his were calm and collected but her eyes were filled with the intent to kill. Before she could move forward again however Damarius held up his hand to stop her. "Eileen, stop." He said.
Eileen looked to the man. "What do you mean!? Our job is to kill this bastard!" She says.
Damarius looks over Ash with a critical eye before sighing in frustration. "You are not the Devil we are searching for, are you?" He asks.
Ash looks at him. "No, I am not. I'm not merely taking a human form, as this is what I truly look like. I'm not a full Devil." He says.
Damarius nods in understanding. "A halfling then. That explains the demonic power you possess, and I suppose that weapon is forged from some demonic material as well...a powerful sword it is indeed, it makes your power feel even more dense." He says.
Eileen looks back and forth with annoyance as the two talk as if it was a normal thing. She growls a bit as she grinds her teeth. "So what!?" She yells out pointing her sword to Ash again. "He's still a piece of shit demon! Even if he's not our target we should take him out; it's our duty!" She said.
Damarius shook his head. "No Eileen, it's not. Is it not obvious to you? This is why I asked you to gather information. This man matches the description of one Dark Slayer, someone who recently slayed a demon and closed a portal to the Underworld. The Order of Blades has even stated they owe a debt to him and his partner for doing so." He says looking back to Ash. "But to think a half Devil did it, why?" He asked.
Ash shrugged. "It was a job; but outside of that...I'd rather not have demons and Devils walking into this plain of existence freely." He said.
"Yet you walk around with no problem." Eileen says while crossing her arms and huffing.
"Listen, I didn't choose who my parents were. All I can do is make the most of my situation." Ash said, slightly lying.
"Well none of us get to choose our lots in life; just like I didn't get to choose losing everything I ever loved to demon shits like you!" She said.
Ash was about to retort when suddenly the loudspeakers went off. "Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle! Especially Satou Kazuma and his companions, please head to the gate as soon as possible!" It said.
Ash sighed and started to walk out the alley past the two Order of Blades members. He is stopped by a tight grip on his wrist. "Where do you think you're going!? I'm not done with you! I still gotta kill you!" Eileen said through clenched teeth. However the most surprising thing happened: a swordspear tip was pointed at her by Damarius. "Damarius? Why?" She asks.
Damarius sighs as he holds the weapon up at his companion. "Eileen, I know your past. Hell almost every one of the 7 Holy Blades has a similar past. But right now this young man" Damarius put emphasis on man "has to go do something. Leave him be." Damarius says as Ash nods his thanks to the man and walks off.
"What the fuck Damarius! We coulda taken him out!" Eileen says.
Damarius however was watching as Ash walked away. "Sometimes the people you think are enemies aren't really enemies. Sometimes those you think are allies aren't either." Damarius said cryptically as he started following behind Ash to the main gate.
"What the fuck does that even mean!" Eileen said as she followed after him to see what all the commotion was about.