Alright, Chapter 4 is here. All story line has been planned. One big operation is coming your way! Spirits will be featured very very soon. In case you ask, no I'm not putting DEM to the front lines.
Also, a little heads up is that the story's rating may have to change or I may have to change some planned content due to the policy imposed by fanfiction. Ok, now enjoy!
Chapter 4: Training
It is a few days after Christmas, Arashi, also known as Spectre starts his first day in Yggdrasil. Dante and him are walking down in a hallway. The young man's eyes are bandaged with the sheathed sword as his sight cane.
Arashi can still recall what happened a few weeks ago. He can still feel the phantom pain caused by the cold demonic steel of Lucifer's katana, Yamato, at his chest. Dante seems to have noticed that as he sees the young man places his right hand at his chest.
"Does your chest still hurts?"
"A little…"
"You'll get over with it, I know it is hard for you to… have a "brother" that was trying to kill you."
Arashi knows his meaning, to be exact the person back there wasn't his brother, but a being assumed the control of his brother. The being created by Azazel, the demon formed from Kyo's power like how Nevermore was born. He still remembers when they resuscitated him, pulling him from death. He was then placed on a bed in Woodman's base. The operators there then lengthened his hair as per his request.
"So... How long have you guys been planning for this?"
"Ever since we found you back in Osaka a few months ago. Before that, we found that cultist had gone dark since the last skirmish 8 years ago. By chance, we identified Kyo, we thought he'll join the war back then. But he never appeared, then we decided to find a way to deal with him since you lost your eyes."
Knowing well who he is dealing with, Arashi decides to let the Wizard know more.
"Kyo is not a typical Fallen Spirit. Lucifer doesn't just bear the title as the Lord of Pride, he is the Emperor of Burning Hells. The other Sin Lords answer to him and if he manages to summon his army, it is not just an army led by Alastor, it is 7 armies with other Lords of Hell as well."
Although Dante is a seasoned Wizard, he has never fought a Fallen Spirit head on, but Arashi's abilities back then proved to him that Fallen Spirits are no joking matter. Especially the ones that were Nanaya.
"Kyo is pretty smart at covering his tracks. First killed 10 DEM Wizards when he turned, Second killed 20 DEM Wizards one week after we pulled you out. We can't track him down since then." he commented.
"He is the last person I ever want to fight against. He is my brother, I know his powers..."
Arashi recalls his younger days with Kyo and his powers.
"The power of illusions. He was also able to use darkness and death. Kyo likes to create shades, illusions and doppelgangers of anyone including himself. He can infuse death powers or dead souls into them to fool anyone with Eyes of Soul and turn them into killing machines. His powers in eclipse… his illusions can use all of his abilities."
The statement confused Dante, who thought the illusions are the same as clones of Kurumi.
"Huh?"
"I suppose you are thinking about Tokisaki Kurumi's clones… Kyo's illusions are nothing like hers. Illusions of himself cannot use any of his powers. If Kyo transform into Azazel, his own illusion will remain intact. But in eclipse, the illusions can transform as well. If it is others' illusion, they'll be able to mimic all their abilities as well."
"Which means, if he creates your illusion when you still have your powers. That illusion will transform into Nevermore, blast shadows like you could as well."
"Yup…"
The two guys continue walking, and Arashi starts to question Dante again.
"What is an AR-Unit?"
"It is an improvement to CR-Unit, AR-Units can use territory offensively by turning those created by CR-Unit against them. They also do not require implants to operate."
Arashi then realized why did Dante said that one doesn't need augmentation surgery to be a Wizard.
"You have a lot of questions for a new guy."
Dante jokingly commented, he understands the young man's mind. For someone who fought against Wizards for his whole life, it will be hard for him to understand.
"Last question, the Spirit in your body…"
"What? You can see me?"
"Can't escape the all seeing eyes eh? Nishiro, you should show yourself, no point hiding anyway."
A white male appears who look exactly like Dante who is holding a sheathed katana. Arashi is puzzled as the existence of Nishiro does not fit into what he was taught before.
"Nishiro lost his own body, and by accident, we merged."
"Yeah… Unless the angel choose to, it is rather rare for any male to be Spirit. At least you are not a Fallen Spirit. Other than Kyo, you are one of the few that is a male Holy Spirit."
"And you are from Nanaya, your abilities are powerful too."
"Not without a price… And a heavy one to pay too…"
The trio then walk down to the end of the hallway. And it is immediately stopped by a woman. She has a long black hair tied up to her right side and a pair of crimson eyes.
"Dante… Why are you passing the prototype weapon, Requiem, Javelin and Hale to a… kid…"
Her statement at first puzzles Arashi first.
"What? I thought these are designed for me."
"For you, a kid?"
Arashi can sense that Dante and Nishiro are cold sweating. He can also sense that the woman is a sealed Spirit.
"I'm not your average kid, Ms Spirit…"
His statement surprises the woman who has not even reveal herself to be a Spirit at all.
"He is whom Woodman has talked to you about, meet Spectre."
"Spectre, I need to see him in action, I don't care what Mr Woodman and you have what deal that can allow you to pull in a blind terrorist like that."
"But…"
"It's okay, Dante."
Arashi stopped Dante from speaking.
"I would like to have your test. I suppose it is just some combat eh? I like to fight unrestrained for once anyway. I'll prove to you why I'm worthy of the weapons, I'll use the sword only."
"Alright…"
Spectre whose eyes are still bandaged, walks into the testing area.
"Release the droids."
An operator releases the droids armed with an assault rifle and some with a lower powered laser blade.
"Kid, if you get hit once, you are out." the woman warned.
"Hey Dante, mind if I burn the whole arena?"
Dante's eyebrow only twitched when he heard that. He knows that Arashi has been training his death powers. It has involved no doubt, but it is not known that how much he has evolved.
Spectre only smiled as the droid starts firing. The young man heightens his focus to slow the bullet down close to a dead stop. He get out of the way and sprints to one of the gun wielding droids. The bullets missed and the droids immediately lost track of their target. Spectre unsheathes his sword, instantly rips the droid into pieces as he sheathes his sword. The other gun droid immediately fire again but misses as the acute sense of the young man dodges the shots and runs on wall.
The gun droid attempts to aim at Arashi but he is too fast and get into the blind spot of the droid. Out of the droid's sight, he is right above it as he launches himself from wall, unsheathes his sword, splitting the droid in half, and sheathes the sword back in a clean motion. The other two droids start to charge at Arashi. The young man just simply charges at one of them, using the tip of the sheathed sword, Arashi smash the droid upwards, launching the droid to his back. He immediately focuses, painting a mental image of where the droids are. He takes a deep breath, just as the droid in air starts to overlap the charging droid, with its head only inches away from the ground, he unsheathes his sword, bifurcates both droids, sheathing his sword again.
"He got some pretty good moves. As expected from someone of his caliber." Nishiro commented.
"Is that all you got?"
The woman is not quite happy with the young man taunting. She immediately takes control of a panel and releases more droids. This time, she releases ten blade droids, but with a tougher body. In fact, their body seems to be made from the same fiber material like Arashi's wiring suit.
Then a flashbang is dropped onto the field and it detonates while the robots rush at him. But invisible to the woman's eyes, Arashi is wearing a hearing aid like device on both ears. With insane speed, the device picks up the deafening sound of the flashbang, and counters it by generating an inverse phase, cancelling the deafening effect. However, the young man can feel the burns on his skin cause by the flashbang.
"Flashbang? Glad that I'm wearing these earpieces…"
Arashi immediately unsheathe his sword to hack down a droid. But the body is flexible and tough enough to stop the blade, surprising Arashi who immediately knocks the droid back with his scabbard. The woman is puzzled to see him not affected by flashbang.
"How in the… If he relies on hearing, the flashbang should deafen him." she thought.
"You're really dying to see my powers, aren't you?" he thought.
The blade immediately glows wispy blue and the electricity arcs are pulsating even more as he channels mana into the blade. He attempts to cut down another droid, the droid attempts to parry the blade, only to find that its blade got broken by Arashi's sword, the droid is out of commission as he splits the droid in half. Without warning, a spectral projection of Arashi is conjured and it performs a clean cut through the droid right behind the former droid. Arashi then focus, locking on to a droid, unsheathes his sword, conjuring a wispy blue arc that cuts through the droid.
He is not done as he immediately disappear and reappear in front of a droid, cutting one of its legs, and stabs through the droid's body as it kneels. He senses a droid at his back, and immediately turns facing the droid while the sword is still on the former droid's body. The bends back, grab the sword, and pull it upwards. Slicing the destroyed droid in half and destroying another droid by splitting its body to two. The woman is a little shocked to see this.
"What is he?"
She releases more droids in an attempt to overpower Arashi. The young man can sense that as well. He thinks that he should end the thing once and for all. With the droid charging at him everywhere. He channels his mana and sheaths his sword, smashes the sheathed sword onto the ground while, creating an explosion that sends all droid flying. Arashi slows the time down in his vision, channels his mana once again.
"Now, BURN!"
Arashi open his arms widely, a wave wispy blue fire is unleashed. The fire gathers around Arashi and goes upwards, as if he is absorbing the fire. The wraith fire is bright enough to be blinding, rendering everyone at the control station unable to see what is going on. The fires also burns the droid to mere charred skeletons and melts the droid deploying equipments. The woman is completely stunned to see that. She thought Arashi is just a human.
"It's over huh?" Arashi asked.
The woman and the operators are speechless to see Spectre in action. Especially his display of spectral abilities.
"How… How?"
"Cut it out, Miruko. This is his file, in fact, you are one of the few that will know who he is."
Miruko grabs the file and read it, the information shocks her deeply as she never expect to have Arashi join Yggdrasil.
"Meet the precursor of Ratatoskr, 14 Blades. Assassin of presidents, kings, CEOs and Wizards."
"Why the hell is he here in the first place?"
"It has to do with Shadow-Mirage. We'll explain later."
In a meeting room
Miruko meets Dante, Nishiro and Arashi, she is surprised to see Arashi's bandaged removed. His bright blue eyes send a cold and scary feel to her. After all, it is the infamous Nanaya. But Arashi's eyes return to normal, sapphire blue, signifying that he was using his power to have a look on Miruko.
"Arashi, this is Miruko."
He reaches out his hand to Miruko.
"Nice to meet you Miruko-san. Just call me Arashi."
"Nice to meet you too, Arashi."
"I suppose you have read about his files eh?"
"Yeah, he massacred countless Wizards. Participated in assassinations of at least 10 presidents globally, came back to life and becoming a Fallen Spirit that almost destroyed the world months ago."
She then turns to Arashi.
"You have quite a rap sheet here, Arashi." she commented.
"Couldn't help it, my bastard family made me did what I do best. But that's all my past, I hate them, and I don't want to be reminded of them." he replied.
While Miruko remain skeptical, the group then discuss about the new threat.
"The new Fallen Spirit, Shadow-Mirage, is his brother. He is here because the Fallen Spirit is hunting him down." Dante started.
Miruko is visibly concerned about the Spirits.
"What? Then the other Spirits?" she asked.
"Well protected. Mirage is confirmed not in Japan and he is not attacking Spirits at all. His target of interest seems to be on Arashi." Ian added.
"I don't know why? He attempted to kill me… He could have just killed the rest. One thing odd is that how Kyo can act freely, I cannot sense any disturbance in his soul. The Emperor of Hell I know isn't going to let this kind of thing happen."
It is indeed a mystery to him, he remembers those pain and agony when Amon was possessing him.
"I guess we can't do anything for now. After all, all Hunters have gone dark." Dante added.
"One request, you all have to protect the Spirits no matter at what cost. Kyo's powers has improved a lot, he with Yamato is virtually unstoppable. The Hunters are not to be underestimated at all!"
"We know that, that's why we are here. We are the black ops team that is handling Fallen Spirits and protecting Spirits. The thing is, to mask the existence of this black ops team, we are also the Assailant Search task force. Except the task force consists of one more member."
Arashi is intrigued by the info. Suddenly, someone is knocking the door.
"Spectre, put on your bandages."
Knowing what's going on, Arashi immediately puts on the bandages, covering his eyes once again.
"Come in." Ian said.
"Hi Dante." a girl spoke.
Arashi recognizes the girl's voice, it is awfully familiar to him.
"This… This girl is…"
"Hi Mana. Welcome to the Team." Dante said.
The girl is none other than Takamiya Mana, Shido's sister, former Adeptus 2 of DEM. One of the strongest Wizard in the world.
"What the hell, Dante!? Why is Mana here, my cover can be blown if I'm not careful."
Arashi is quite surprised to find that Mana is in the team. Afterall, she is the closest person to the Spirits, whom he had to go dark for.
"Mana, meet Spectre, our team mate, and trainee." Dante introduced.
"Nice to meet you, Spectre-san."
She reaches out her hand, Spectre does the same too.
"Nice to meet you too, Mana-san. It is my honour to meet one of the world's strongest Wizard."
The two shake hand, signifying the partnership.
"Alright, time for your training Spectre. Go put on your wiring suit, visor on too."
"Roger that."
DEM Main HQ, Tenno's personal quarter
"Tsch… Nothing… Did DEM really knows nothing about Arashi's whereabouts?"
Tenno spent a lot of time in his quarters in an attempt to find Arashi's status by hacking the system. The undercover Wizard suddenly senses a strong presence behind him. He immediately grabs the pistol on his desk and points backwards, only for a hooded man to disarm him in an instant and points at his head.
"Damn it Tenno, it's me!"
The hooded man pulls down his hood and reveals his face, it is Kyo.
"Kyo? Damn, you could have just let me know you were there."
Kyo returns the pistol to Tenno.
"Congrats on your promotion."
"Yeah thanks, even got myself a personal unit."
"So how's the search?"
"Came up with nothing, DEM is also looking for him after your attack. What about the others?"
"You are the first that I ask, they'll be next. See ya."
"Hail Emperor Lucifer!"
Kyo disappears into a black smoke, leaving the room.
"Kyo… Your schemes are not invisible to everyone. Not to me…"
Tenno knows what Kyo is up to. The young man is fully aware Kyo is not what he appears to be.
One hour later, Moscow, Russia
Kyo appears before the Psychic Hunter with blonde short hair for their search.
"Nope, the Wizard force, Spetsnaz, and SVR have absolutely no idea on Arashi's identity, let alone his status."
"Damn it, the trail is pretty much cold when DEM don't even know where is he."
"You checked with Tenno huh?"
The Hunter is obviously not happy about the fact that Kyo looked for Tenno first. Kyo can sense that and decides to advise his fellow Psychic.
"Cut it out, Ishutin. I only have five of you now, if we are not united, even 14 Blades can pick us off…"
Ishutin only nodded, he is puzzled by the fact that Kyo wants to kill Arashi.
"You're really not gonna pull your brother back? Just because he allied with Spirits? If we can pull him back, we can win this right away."
Ishutin is oblivious to the ploy, Kyo with his quick thinking, immediately formulate a lie to fool Ishutin.
"… I have no choice… The emperor wants him dead. And he has forsaken his own power, the sacred power of Psychic just to protect pathetic humans and Psychics of the light side…"
Ishutin is convinced by the lie, and never pursue the matter, only to reveal the intel he has.
"Anyway, you might have some interesting news at Ward's. SVR seems to have intel of a black ops group that is hunting for Spirits."
Intrigued by the intel that some group other than the Majestic and Hunters are hunting Spirits. Kyo decides to go to USA to find out about the black ops group.
"Alright, see you…"
Kyo puts on his hood and disappears in black smoke.
Yggdrasil base
"You are doing quite well."
Mana is teaching Arashi to use the territory to levitate a lead ball. He can stop the ball wherever he wants with precision. It is ironic as Arashi taught Mana hand to hand combat before he disappeared. In fact, to Arashi, it is like a deja vu moment.
"Alright, time to stop bullets with your territory."
Dante said as he walks into the training area in a black wiring suit. Mana knows that Spectre just barely started and attempts to stop Dante.
"Wait, he just…"
Before she can continue, Dante already pulled out the Hale and fires a volley of bolts. Arashi immediately expands his territory, he knows what Hale is capable of, he tries to stop it by using telekinesis. He heighten his focus and slow the bolts to the extent that his visor is flickering. Not only did he stop the bolts in mid air, he never attempt to dodge when he is able to. Not to mention the bolts are just a meter away from his head.
"Pretty good. I suppose you are ready for more advanced training?"
Arashi disengage the territory and the bolts fall to the ground.
"Damn it, are you trying to kill me?" Arashi asked angrily.
"What can kill you, makes you stronger. I thought already know that."
Arashi is certainly not quite happy about it. But Dante's words reminded him of his trainings too. It is the constant death threats that forced him to perform at his best.
"Alright… For advance training, I need you to consciously let the territory affect you. So that you know what is the effect."
"Yes, Dante."
Arashi readies himself, as he remembers back when he was rescued, the territory used to heal him did not have any effect until he passed out. Only to be told that his territory immunity is driven by his conscious.
"Good, so this is what the AR-Units are capable of…"
Dante walks up and uses his hand to grab onto the territory of Arashi, twists it and pushes it towards Arashi. The territory shatters and pushes Arashi to the ground effortlessly.
"Ughh!" he grunted.
Arashi's vision is slightly blurred for a short time. He is pretty impressed by the fact that he can actually manipulate someone else's territory at his advantage.
"This is what I meant by using territory offensively, of course, due to your immunity to territory. You can actually destroy territory of any intensity. Try punching mine, punch it as hard as you can."
Arashi gathers his strength onto his right fist and punches it towards Dante's territory, the territory shatters like a cannon being shot through glass. The effect pushes Dante to the ground too. Dante also suffers from the same effect, he is impressed and jealous by the young man's ability.
"Ouch… That's a good one. If a Wizard conjures the territory with more concentration, he or she might get knocked out by that one."
"How did you even stopped the blade back then?"
"I formed a cuff on the blade, not at the wrist. If you cannot knock out a Wizard with your ability, he or she may just cuff you using telekinesis. So it is important that you can manipulate territory."
Dante's explanation enlights the trainee as he now understand the strength of a Wizard at an angle he never seen before.
"This kid is learning pretty fast. His combat skills contributed to this trait largely. He can actually be a Wizard that manipulates territory environmentally. In that way, not only he will be performing at his prime. He might actually take down anyone with his skills, including his brother."
Dante is thinking about the possibilities of what Arashi can be. He decides to let Arashi to figure the way himself.
"Hey kid. One advice. Use territory at your advantage, turn it to an environment that suits you. When you figured it out how to. Look for me." Dante said as he leaves the area.
Arashi cannot figure out what Dante is meaning and asks Mana.
"What does he means by that?"
"He means that you must find a way to turn the territory to suit your needs. Wizards should use territory at their advantage, that's how they deal with Spirits." she replied.
That's all. Thanks for your support. Do leave a review or PM me so that I can improve my story upon. Thank you.