Before I start the chapter, I thank all of you who reviewed the story. It really encourages me. And for those who sent me your pair requests, please know that they are taken into consideration.
Chapter 6: Demon Subordination
"Tensho!" he roared and unleashed a Menos sized wave of raw power yet to defined in physics. The attack roared on its own as it swept through hundreds of demons before dissipating into thin air after running out of power.
The torrent of unfathomable attack left hundreds of demons dead, whether they came here personally to fight or had possessed a body. Few demons who managed to dodge the attack groaned and squealed constantly in pain, for just being near the attack had left them a body covered in burns. They had left hell to create hell on earth, but it seemed like that Hell didn't want to let them go.
Ichigo looked over the dead and the dying and felt a pity. From the sudden adrenaline rush, he had unleashed a significant portion of his power -but it was no where near 1% of his total power- to fight. It had been long since he met an army to take him on. As a result, he had no one to fight anymore.
To those who did not understand Japanese, it might have sounded like hissing, especially because of Ichigo's hollowed voice.
It would've sounded sinister.
Bloody sinister, especially after the black attack that made that night's sky look bright.
And that is exactly what most of the students running out of the school felt against Ichigo. They saw him go towards the main gate where the attack was already underway, and several of the staffs, despite their uncomfortable feelings towards Ichigo followed to help.
But they found out that they weren't needed. They saw their fellow wizards dead, and they hurried away from the place, leaving Ichigo to face the army of still incoming demons.
Harry, however, saw the teachers return and grabbed one of them by the robe. "Why aren't you helping him?" he asked and he just noticed that it was Professor McGonagall.
She hesitated but placed a hand on his shoulder. "He doesn't need our help, Mr. Potter..." she replied before leaving to take care of the other students.
Harry, on the other hand, did not believe so.
'He ... is a cursed man, Harry. His words may not be, but his actions are.' Sirius told him as he cleaned the house. Harry helped with the cleaning, but he was more into what Sirius was talking about: the mysterious and powerful Professor Black. "He's my uncle.. Or that is as close as I can get it. You see, he is the founder of our family line, Harry. Now before you get confused, let me tell you two things: the man is a immortal and a very protective man. He will go lengths to protect someone or some place that he holds close to his heart."
Remembering those words only made Harry want to go and help his "uncle," but he knew that he would only be a liability.
Still...
Ichigo scowled as a demon took a shot at him with its fire breath and burned his left arm.
The rest of the demons, seeing a weakness, lunged at Ichigo, but he batted them away with a series of Getsuga Tensho's. It wasn't easy, especially when they managed to take a bite out of him.
It was then that Vadacruz showed himself in front of Ichigo.
Ichigo knew b the first impression that this was the leader of this idiotic group of demons.
"I am Vadacruz, a servant of Duke Aim, a greater demon..." he said as he took out two pistols. "Die, enemy of the demonkind!"
Ichigo used series of shunpo's -though they weren't called shunpo anymore; such things died with the reality he destroyed- to dodge the incoming torrent of bullets. 'This is ridiculous,' he thought as he closed in, catching everyone by surprise. 'This is too easy..' With that thought, he loped off the demon's head from the rest of its body, and watched as the body and the head disintegrate, leaving behind a kuruk, the true form of a soul. Then he looked up, glaring at the rest of the demon army, and they dispersed quiet easily, only few staying behind to either admire the skill that Ichigo boasted, but at the risk of losing their life.
Ichigo picked up the kuruk. It was a ball of glowing fire. Seeing it only managed to bring up the memories of hollows and shinigamis, who were the false form of a soul; like a shell that the kuruk managed to gather up to protect itself.
Ichigo sighed as he opened a portal to the Territory.
A smallish gate opened, complete with medieval wooden door, and a small angel, complete with draping robes and a pair of white, pure wings, came out to greet him. Without talking, Ichigo extended the black kuruk.
The angel gave him a slight bow before taking it. "Your service is appreciated as always, Ichigo. Finally, God can help this one..."
The man only scowled despite feeling elated a bit. "Yeah, yeah..." he muttered. "Go along and have him purified..."
The angel gave him a bow again and the portal closed.
Then he turned to the demons still looking at him in the abandoned field in front of Hogwarts. Until they were taken care of, students could not be allowed back into the school; a middle low-tier demon was equivalent to a Auror-level wizard, and these demons ranged from the lowest of the low to the more higher tier.
"What are you all still doing around here?"
The strongest looking of them looked about before stepping forward. It was a Great Serpent, a category of demons known for their resemblance to terrestrial snakes, aside from their three set of scaled wings. "We admire your strength and courage, Immortal. We wish to serve you..."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
"We demons are creatures created by the devils, those who abandoned God's side for their own corrupt sins. We were once souls that were humans, or animals, that ended up in hell. We were made from the sins that the humans made. As such, we are incomplete and continuously seek something to fill us..."
'Like a hollow.' a corner of Ichigo's subconscious commented, but it was ignored.
"You, on the other hand, is a devil yourself. You've crossed the territory, almost knowingly, and faced the premordial guardians, the Firsts, who protected it. But now, you work for the Light in stopping the devils conquest of the world. When we -at least, I- look at you, you are what we aspire to be: someone that works for the good even though we were born from the darkness," the demon continued. "You may read my mind and do whatever... Please accept us as your servants.." the demon said as it bent its long body, showing submission.
'... Did a demon just ask to become my servant?'
The rest of the demons still there slowly made their way towards Ichigo and went on their knees. Ichigo dissipated his mask and stared at them.
Then he scowled.
-W-
Ten minutes later...
Harry and his gang waited just beyond the front gate with their wands out as the battle raged on outside. The gate was closed and a lot of the teachers were still there to protect that school grounds as well as older students who wanted to fight to protect Hogwarts. Younger students had all been sent away by any method possible. Already few staff had fallen to the demons who had managed to sneak into the school ground from the cliffsides. It hadn't been easy to get rid of them, but they were taken care of.
Hermoine was perhaps the most calm person, aside from McGonagall and Dumbledore. She was reading up on some of the books that Professor Black had in his office regarding demons and their weaknesses. It was proving to be a really good advantage, as it had proven when she used the knowledge in those books to take down a hell hound by herself.
"The sound of battle has stopped..." Dumbledore said quietly but everyone heard him anyway. "We shall now wait for the winner..."
There was no sound.
No sound.
No sound.
No sound.
Then a thump.
Half of those ready to fight jumped in surprise, then prepared themselves.
The huge metal door slowly creaked open.
And Ichigo stepped in.
"Oh, you won," Ron said.
Everyone looked at him. 'Of course, Mr. Obvious...'
Then Ichigo flung the door wide open, and the crowd gasped at the company of demons behind him.
"Everyone, say hi to Hogwart's staff."
There was an intense silence.
Then the Great Serpent, about twenty meters in length and two foot thick (diameter), slithered up to the front and gave a bow. "The Name's Cass. A pleasure..." it said.
-W-
When Ichigo had cut off Vadacruz's head, Greed was destroying the demon legion attacking the London Branch.
Of the four tunnels leading to the fortified, subterranean city, two had been breached, but Greed was quickly managing the demons in the West tunnel with his armed gang.
"This is better than COD!" one of his gang shouted as he fired indiscriminately at the horde of demons occupying the hundred foot high tunnel. The rest of the gang seemed to agree, especially because they had been told they were doing something good. and it required bullets.
Greed was also having fun as well.
This was his first time meeting the demon army, and they were stronger than humans. He could fight to his content without having to worry -especially because they were as much freak as his was. But had he said the last part outloud, his father surely would have scolded him.
He didn't even have half of his Ultimate Shield active, yet he was ripping through them.
He swung his clawed black right at a giant, three-headed bull-like demon and severed two of its head. The remaining head wailed in pain and bellowed in rage. "Brothers!" it shouted as the severed heads died off.
"Don't worry," Greed said as he drew his left hand back. "You'll be following them soon..."
"T-The West Gate! It's cleared!"
Carlos fell on his knees when lookout shouted out for all to hear. But he was damn sure that there were more of them when he first came. 'No matter...' he thought as he tried to stand up, but the nervousness of an actual frontal demon assault had made them tremble, wobble, and immobile. 'So much for my title...'
"Something's coming!"
Ten or fifteen or so exorcists still at the Western Gate quickly got ready to fight again. 'I thought this was too early for an end!' Carlos shouted mentally as he reloaded his ACRs.
The tunnel upon which they stared into was dark as the night itself; the now gone demon army had made sure they came by the approach of darkness.
But within it, two red lights lit up and continued to approach.
"Damn it, are we finally done?"
The exorcists somewhat eased when they heard a normal human voice.
Then they saw a nightmare.
"Shoot to-"
"Pride!"
"-Kill!"
Suddenly a huge wall of shadow shot out of the ground and stopped all of the bullets.
The exorcists stared in horror. This was it. This was their end. Two high tier demons.
"Dammit, I'm here to save your asses, and you shoot me?" Greed growled angrily as he stepped out into the light. "The name's Yao, exorcists. I'm a homunculus, not a fucking demon."
Exactly four hours later...
Greed, without his Ultimate Shield, stood in front of his well armed and well armored gang within the West Tunnel. They had in the end helped the exorcists from losing the city to the demons, but unlike the exorcists, the gangsters were in a happy mood.
Greed grinned as his gang laughed and grinned at each other. There were some wounded, some severely injured, but they were doing alright. 'Gangsters are people too,' he thought as he surveyed their expressions. 'They are just a bit more violent of them. They seek a leader to lead them, to shelter them ... to help them. They grew up doing all kinds of bad things just to survive. At least many of them did. But this here, this fight, helped them realize that they were doing something good, even though it involves guns. They were fighting for something; to save people's lives.'
Then with a wicked grin and sighed. This was his family.
The sigh drew everyone's attention to him. He let the grin fall down and let it be replaced by a scowl, much like his father's.
Then abruptly, he smiled. "We're partying tonight!"
The gangsters were partying within the London Branch of the True Cross Order, but the branch chief had allowed them to do so. Unfortunately, they did not have liquor. But all was well.
Greed, on the other hand, sat across a table from Carlos and few other exorcists. The sound of other exoricsts and gangsters partying with each other, making merry and all that, played in the background, but they did not celebrate. To them, this was a serious meeting between representatives of two different forces.
"I'm only here because my Father ordered that I help you," Greed said. "He wants to keep a close tie with your Order. I believe he sent an envoy to the HQ of your order, I think."
Carlos nodded slightly.
Then one of the exorcists, a girl around 18, burst into the room with a faxed out paper in her hands. She rushed over to Carlos and handed it to him with her two hands. Carlos took it gently and slowly read it.
Greed, however, was focused on the girl rather than what the paper might say. She was just gorgeous! She stood somewhere around 5'6" to 5'7". Her plum bosum was held tightly behind the black uniform, and her long hair draped naturally over her shoulders and her back.
She caught him oogling at her and she gave him a glance.
Her red eyes-
Red eyes.
Big red eyes.
Greed scowled a bit, and the girl flinched. She gave the others a quick bow before she hurried outside.
"The paper here from Vatican confirms it," Carlos said in a tone of relief. He stood up and extended a hand toward Greed. "Thank you for your effort, Mr. Greed."
Greed took it. "Call me Ling, or Yao. But not Greed in normal circumstances," Greed said.
"Very well," he replied. "Now, shall we got and enjoy the party ourselves?"
Oh Greed wanted to enjoy the party, but the girl was constantly in his mind.
Red eyes were uncommon among any race. Far less in humans than any race, and they had it because they had demonic or angelic ancestry somewhere. Which was ... intriguing.
'Father always wants to find people like them,' he thought as he stood up from where he sat in the corner of the party and went out. 'I should go after her.'
The girl in question was hiding in the corner of her room.
The man she saw at the conference room was scary.
Suddenly her door slammed open and the same man she was fearing about came through.
He looked about and then saw her.
"Oh, what are you doing there like a scared shit?"
-W-
Ichigo watched the kids file back to Hogwarts via multiple ways. Some were flying through, but most were walking.
"P-Professor."
Ichigo turned around without his mask.
Hermoine flinched a bit. "U-Umm.. I - "
"Yes?" Ichigo asked when Hermoine couldn't continue herself.
"I want to learn how you control demons!"'
"Say wha?" Ichigo somewhat stuttered. "...You're crazy."
She flinched. "Well, I have a lot of professors who are mentally insane," she replied.
He stared at her for a moment or two before he burst into laughing.
"Alright, alright. Meet me during summer; expect to not go home." Then he turned around and headed back into his office, followed by two human looking demons.
Hermoine could tell that they were; no human has tails.
-W-
"Well, that's stupid," a being with a crow's head, a man's body, and the tail of a dog muttered. "That asshole went and got himself killed!"
A human looked at the being and scoffed. "You devils continue to make the same mistake regarding him," he said as he played with the giggling baby in his arms. These two stood over what was Hollywood. The city, despite its glamours and physical beauty, had a ton of negative energies, like hate, vanity, lust, and anger. Demons and devils alike thrived in such an environment and even few high tier devils like Duke Aim came out from hell to play with the humans
This human, however, was a human, interacting with the devils as if it was its adviser or superior.
He cooed the baby and the baby fell asleep.
"Who is that?"
"Just a baby I picked up somewhere. Left alone in a small box in the corner of the street."
"A bastard?"
"Shut it."
"...What do you intend to do with it?"
The human looked at the bird head (literally a bird head) and sighed. "Well, I intend to raise him."
"Raise a human boy in a house timming with demons, devils, and youkais?"
"Demons and youkais are just as human, though created to serve a dark purpose. All youkais and demons can be converted and purified into something clean. Of course, with the right method," he replied. "Just like I did to you."
"Hey!"
"What does Duke Aim have to say about his stupid servant?" the human asked after a while.
The raven head remained silent. "Well, not much. He just threw a cup."
The human chuckled.
The crow head on the other hand gulped.
This human was like the human that Vadacruz tried to kill. But unlike the Immortal, this human merely had power and demonic ancestry.
"Well," the raven head said. "What do you intend to do against the Immortal, Tyler Isshin Stanford?"
-W-
:D
Isshin is back.
The next chapter will come out when the review number goes over 41.