Chapter 7- In the Center of the Circle...
"HA! You freshmen wimps are no match for a senior like Gold Knuckle! Gold Knuckle hasn't even begun to use his beheading kenpo to his full ability." Gold Knuckle taunted Mao and the rest of his Freshmen class, although there wasn't much he could do about it, Mao was furious.
"DON'T think we're done yet, either! We still have our secret weapon to use!" Mao shot back in an effort to regain his dignity- albeit with a horrible lie.
"Oh? Someone else I can use my Beheading Kenpo on? And evidently someone stronger than you wimps? Well. Bring. It. On."
"Uhhh, Mao? It's not hard to tell that you lied, but why bother at this point?" Almaz asked, trying hard to divide his attention between deflecting arrow shots and Mao, and he was actually suceeding.
"Because, slave, you are the secret weapon I mentioned! Everyone knows it's when they're about to lose that a hero unleashes his secret powers, so GO! GO NOW! DESTROY THEM!" Mao yelled to command Almaz, who reluctently stepped forward.
"This wimp is your secret weapon? Why I could-"
"Could what? Run home crying to mommy that you've lost to a little mouse-boy?" A voice called from seemingly nowhere, yet it seemed to echo everywhere.
"Who said that? I'm warning you, if I find whoever said that, I'll grind your skull into paste once I take it off the rest of your body!" Gold Knuckle barked angrily, wildly searching the room for the source of the voice.
Did he just call me a mouse? AND Gold Knuckle just called me a wimp- do I have ANY friends?
Raspberyl's Father shot like a rocket straight through the ceiling, his entrance like a beacon that drew everyone's attention.
"I'm your opponent now!" Raspberyl's Father yelled energetically as he soared to the ground at incredible speed. Quicker than anyone could blink, Raspberyl's Father crashed like a meteorite into the floor in the center of the room just in front of the AV room stage, leaving a perfect outline of his body on the stone floor where he had landed- the hole he made was 15 feet deep. Clouds of dust billowed out from the crash site, but it was still clear enough to see what had happened.
"This fool wants to fight Gold Knuckle? Fine, I'll dig you outta that hole and squeeze your head right off your neck!" Gold Knuckle said confidently as he made a heavy leap off of the stage, landing just a few feet away from the crater with a crash. Mao and his party saw this, but could do nothing to abate it, the Freshmen supporters of Gold Knuckle proved too numerous to overcome quickly- they were by no means losing, just being held back by sheer numbers.
Gold Knuckle looked down in the man-shaped crater, only to find that it was empty of his target. Like a wild beast searching for his prey, Gold Knuckle wildly looked about the room for someone who wasn't there before- completely oblivious to Raspberyl's Father about to strike him from behind. A few of the delinquent freshmen turned around and were about to go and help Gold Knuckle when they saw the glare of Raspberyl's Father's sword, glowing like a star right into their faces.
"Behind you, senor Knuckle!" Chewy shouted, and quickly his advice was taken into action as Gold Knuckle spun around and blocked the strike with his armored arm- shattering the sword into many hundreds of metallic shards that scattered like flies across the floor. Gold Knuckle struck, aiming for the neck, but Raspberyl's Father was long out of his reach long before he could even ball his hands into fists.
"Talk about lucky- if I didn't have such a crushing hangover from whatever happened last night, I'd have already cut you in half and been on my way at this point." Raspberyl's Father said, carefully watching all of the Freshmen delinquents surrounding him.
"So you're that legendary demon that has taken over the school? Gold Knuckle is less than impressed, your level is disappointing for all the hype." Gold Knuckle said, causing Raspberyl's Father to quickly check his level.
WHAT? I'm only level 60! That's less than one-thirtieth of my actual level! I must've drank all the alcohol in the universe last night- which would also explain why my hangover is so crushingly painful this morning... No matter, I've still got- WHAT HAPPENED TO MY WEAPON SKILLS! AND MY EVILITIES, TOO! This is no normal hangover! This is... an Uber-hangover! I can't even use the Uber-Omega-Fire-Bomb-Strike Skill!... or Century Killer, rather... If not for my only slightly lowered aptitudes, superior fighting ability while drunk, and my secret weapon- cheat codes, I might actually be in trouble!
"So of course I'm not in trouble!" Raspberyl's Father accidentally voiced the end of his thoughts, then he finished with a taunt: "So. Bring. It. On." Raspberyl's Father said, purposely mocking Gold Knuckle's earlier taunt to Mao.
"Why should Gold Knuckle even bother with you? You're so weak that Gold Knuckle doesn't even need to dirty his hands fighting you at all- Freshmen! This man is an evil demon and it is your duty to destroy him for the good of the Academy! Sir Aurum will be proud to see his head on a pike!" Gold Knuckle rallied the Freshmen Delinquents, and they were eager to follow his command; all of them that surrounded him and other glory-seeking delinquents that were previously attacking Mao and co. now focused on Raspberyl's Father; together they all formed a circle at least 10 feet thick in any direction, and slowly the circle was closing in as the bloodthirsty delinquents closed in for the kill- on this one chance, this one, curious circumstance, their old, violent demonic natures mixed perfectly with their new delinquent natures to give them all the perfect drive for the kill, if just this once.
"COME ON! I WASN'T AFRAID OF ANY OF THE 500 OVERLORDS I'VE KILLED AND I AIN'T AFRAID OF ANY OF YOU, EITHER!" Raspberyl's Father yelled as he widened his stance and carefully watched every direction, just waiting for one of them to make a move so he could tear them apart. This ruse of power worked, and the rate at which the circle was closing slowed to a worm's pace, but it certainly didn't stop.
I might not be afraid, but a weapon and my old level back would certainly would be nice...
"He's fighting all of them alone? He certainly is brave." Sapphire noted, already ready to begin shooting into the mass of delinquents around Raspberyl's Father.
"Father..? What..? Why..?" Raspberyl couldn't quite voice what she was thinking, other than shock.
"But he isn't all-powerful- in this weakened state, he's not going to win this fight; they're going to tear him apart." Mao finally calculated his odds- according to his 1.8 million E.Q., the chance that Raspberyl's Father would win in his weakened state was 1 in 10,000 at best.
"Dad's going to lose..? But... but... Dad... never loses... NEVER... Raspberyl said, her voice shaking lightly, like she was on the verge of crying.
"He took over for us... he's throwing away everything for us... That's so... heroic..." Asuka said, her voice also shaking slightly, but certainly less than Raspberyl's.
"Is this the monster like we thought before? If he was... he would've left us to die... he wouldn't be taking all of them on by himself." Kyoko said, she was careful not to show any admiration by keeping her voice straight and level, but she wasn't succeeding too well.
"He'll win... I'm sure of it!" Almaz tried to assure them, not to much effect.
"Even the best of chefs sometimes need a helping hand with so many hungry customers beating down his door!" Mr. Champloo said as he appeared from seemingly nowhere in the middle of Mao's group.
"Oh, master! I didn't see you enter!" Almaz said joyfully, his spirits visibly raised now that a teacher was there to help.
"Not that his advice is any good! I'm going to let him weaken that crowd before I'm going in again!" Mao said adamantly, most others agreeing with him.
"Well I'm not!" Raspberyl cried as she forced her way to the front. "I don't care what you do, Mao, but I'm going to help my father!" Raspberyl said, her eyes awash with tears as she began a headlong-charge toward the circle.
Ah my dear daughter- your help is a touching spark of hope to my ailing heart, but I would've rather you had just sat back and let me do all of the fighting...
"Wait my lady! We're coming too!" Asuka cried as she and Kyoko both rushed after Raspberyl, easily catching up to her since she was so comparitively short. Without even slowing their pace, Kyoko picked up Asuka, who picked up Raspberyl; and together in this 3 person-high tower they charged at the circle of delinquents, who just took notice of the three of them charging wildly at them.
Just as they came to the edge of the circle, Kyoko threw Asuka and Raspberyl with all her might, nearly everyone in the room hoping that they would land safely inside the inner circle. Asuka and Raspberyl sailed through the air, quickly landing just inside the inner border of the circle- Asuka hit the ground running, quickly stopping and putting Raspberyl down with her father- who was more than impressed.
"Impressive teamwork from you three- not that I would know anything about teamwork." Raspberyl's Father laughed, not taking his eyes off of the circle for even a moment.
"Dad, are you ok?" Raspberyl asked, not even paying the slightest bit of attention to the crowd- all she could see was her distressed father.
"No one's been able to throw a single punch at me in over 300 years before I've torn their skulls out and you're worried about how I'm doing? Wait until after the fight, sweetie."
Is this really happening? Everyone in the room seemed to think- with Mao beign the exception.
Ugh, this isn't really happening... Mao said, on the verge of sickness.
"A delicious meal of the sweetest words my ears have ever tasted." Mr. Champloo said, him and Kyoko appearing inside of the circle just at that moment.
"Oh if only that made sense... and I have to wonder how you two managed to get inside the circle..?" Raspberyl's Father hinted his question lightly- he didn't want anyone to get distracted at this critical point of the battle- the part where nothing happens, apparantly.
"Ninja Skills!" Kyoko said proudly.
"A good chef never reveals his secrets!" Mr. Champloo said equally proudly.
"Fair enough, now's not the time for cooking secrets anyways!" Raspberyl's Father said, grinning in anticipation.
Raspberyl said to get his attention, which he gave as much to her as he could while still keeping an eye on the crowd. Don't you think a sword would be helpful? Raspberyl hinted at Magichanging for him, and he took the hint, although not favorably at first.
"As kind as it is for you to offer, I'd rather not get a sword so valuable to me get tarnished with blood." Raspberyl's Father said. Raspberyl was hurt, and her face showed it- she wanted to finally do something to help her father as he had helped her, so he quickly gave in.
Both of them leaped into the air simultaneously, and in perfect harmony they came together just as Raspberyl transformed and perfectly she came to rest into her Father's hand; eager for the fight, both of them.
"And now, we fight." Raspberyl's Father grinned evilly, and the group charged into the circle.
"Freshmen, ATTACK!" Gold Knuckle ordered from the stage, and the freshmen delinquents were upon the small group.
Offense was not an option for the 4 fighters, there simply was too many attacks coming in at all times that lowering their guard was suicide, so defense until a chance to quickly counter and return to defense was the only option- and it worked quite well.
Asuka had her back to the wall early on, and she skillfully used her spear to keep the enemies at bay; of the few that dared to move in to strike, she easily dispatched with single strikes- her strikes proved lethal, but she had few chances to actually strike, which often meant she was often just at a standstill with whole groups of enemies, each side just waiting for the other to move.
Kyoko nealy abused her superior speed in swiftly dodging all of the attacks sent her way, and nearly after every dodge she struck once or twice at her opponents, which proved to be like trying to wash away mountains with just a few raindrops at a time, but so often she skillfully moved in to strike that she was just as adept at defeating the enemies as Asuka was.
Mr. Champloo's attack style was... unorthodox, to say the least, but it was certainly effective. Erratic dodging movements coupled with curious cooking-based attacks was his style, but no one could even try to stand up to him when he took out his meat cleaver and chased whole groups of freshmen delinquents around the floor until they were all the consistency of a freshly tossed salad.
Raspberyl's Father held his defensive stance, and another agressive freshman delinquent ran himself into the trap- just as the delinquent was about to strike, Raspberyl in sword form lashed out and struck the delinquent; Raspberyl's Father carefully guided Raspberyl's strike to hit a non-lethal part of the delinquent- the shoulder. Carefully aimed non-lethal attacks were Raspberyl's Father's method of fighting, and each strike had to be made extra carefully, and of course, extra quickly to incapacitate without killing.
"Thank you, father." Raspberyl said in appreciation- her delinquent record would be ruined in the worst possible was if she had killed someone, even if it was just by proxy.
"It's not easy to do this, so wait until the end to thank me- and only then if I didn't accidentally make you kill someone." Raspberyl's Father said as he took a few steps back so he could get back in his stance. As Raspberyl's Father tried to step back, a freshman warrior followed his steps, wildly swinging his axe at him. Raspberyl's Father kept moving back to avoid the strikes- he could've easily blocked the slow yet powerrful swings by using Raspberyl, but he dare not risk her injury. Raspberyl's Father inevitably backed into a wall, which he cleverly used ot his advantage; the warrior made an overhead vertical swing with his axe, putting all of his strength behind it, but he still had no speed to it. Raspberyl's Father easily sidestepped the swing, and with so much power behind it, it got wedged into the wall, leaving a sizable dent in the stone masonry.
"Some delinquent you are, damaging school property is more... honor student." Raspberyl's Father said evilly, quickly using this moment of vulnerability to bore his free hand into the warrior's chest, tearing out his heart in a mist of blood with hardly a light tug.
"Well I guess my strength is returning- and with it, my demonic nature. Perhaps you should turn back to normal." Raspberyl's Father suggested as he prepared his defensive stance once more.
"I can't... the only way for me to turn back is to let the Magichange wear off... then I wake up at the Nurse's Office... it won't be long now..." Raspberyl explained, her voice sounding tired and a little distressed at the gory kill her father just made.
"True, I forgot about that- I'll see you there!" Raspberyl's Father said as he again used his free hand to kill an attacking Freshmen- this time crushing a blue skull's head with his bare hand. Once it was clear enough, Raspberyl's Father summoned all of his considerable strength and he threw Raspberyl across the room as hard he could. At first Raspberyl travelled at practically mach 5 as she sailed through the air, but mid-flight she transformed back to her normal body and she slowed down dramatically- she slowed down so much, that she was going to land nowhere near safety- she was headed right for the stairs to the exit.
Ohhhhh DAMN! Being weak again is such a pain...
Raspberyl flew through the air as a sword, then she began to fall as herself. Raspberyl fell and fell, and finally came to rest safely as someone caught her mid-air, and very carefully she was brought back to safety so she could rest.
"THANKS MAO!" Raspberyl's Father shouted across the room as he broke a demon wolf's jaw by yanking the upper and lower jaws away from each other.
"NONE of you will mention this to her! And before any of you say anything, I did it ONLY because she serves me now- it's not very good if all of my servants die, you know." Mao said furiously though his teeth to the giggling group that greeted him upon his return.
"Sure Lord Mao, whatever you say." Almaz smiled.
I think that display of Father-Daughter love really affected Mao, and in a good way! I think he just took a huge step toward finally opening his heart!
"Awwww she looks so cute when she's sleeping~" Sapphire giggled as she hovered over Raspberyl- it was easy to tell that it wasn't just Raspberyl that she was swooning over. "May I hold her for you, Lord Mao?"
Mao carefully handed Raspberyl to Sapphire- while somehow concealing his blushing as he did so, and for another minute afterwards; until finally he adressed the rest of the freshmen under his command:
"NOW EVERYONE, WE JOIN THIS FIGHT!" Mao commanded, and the freshmen under his command all cheered and charged eagerly into the fray.
"Yes! We have the upper hand now!" Kyoko cheered as she made a wide leap backwards away from an attacking freshmen delinquent.
"Not while the Knuck is still here, you don't!" Gold Knuckle said as he leaped off of the stage, landing with a crash and sending out a massive shockwave that knocked most of the fighters present to the ground.
"Don't think I'm finished yet, oh young wayward student!" Raspberyl's Father said as he ripped his fingers out of his victim's head.
"You were weak before, and now you're all tired out from fighting- you don't stand a chance against my Beheading Kenpo." Gold Knuckle boasted, readying his fighting stance.
"You don't think so? I've got my old level back, so I don't think I even need to lift a finger to beat you." Raspberyl's Father grinned, provoking Gold Knuckle to check his level again.
"*gasp* one... one thousand four hundred! Ugh... I might be in over my head, but there are plenty of seniors that are a lot stronger than me, they could be even more than a match for you! Don't think this is the last time you'll see me, I'll be back!" Gold Knuckle said as he fled the scene, leaving a demoralized group of freshmen delinquents.
One thousand four hundred? I guess it's not totally worn off yet- which reminds me, I wonder what "It" is..? Well I certainly know a goofy chef that will know!
"Well that settles that- now I've got some work to do re-educating all of these delinquents!" Raspberyl's Father said as he started for the exit, but he was stopped by Mr. Champloo, who had not a scratch on him despite the battle that just took place.
"You did well in making that special snack for your love-starved daughter." Mr. Champloo said sincerely, with a smile and a nod.
"Perfect timing Champloo, I meant to ask you how did I end up in front of the AV room, and what really happened to make me so weak? Raspberyl's Father asked, to which Mr. Champloo seemed to be caught off-guard- he had to think for a minute before he responded.
"You came to me with a plan, and I merely supplied the catering- that is all I'm going to say-"
"NO it's NOT all you're going to say! You put Angel's Nectar and dissolved Ambrosia in my beer last night, didn't you? It's the only thing I can think of that would do this... and that vile taste in my mouth this morning... You poisoned me with angel-food, which made me weak and nice at the same time; isn't that what happened?"
"I'm surprised such a great portion of it wore off so quickly! Yes, that is what happened, also you yourself added about 20 cases of human vodka to the recipe- but you did request me to do it, don't you remember?"
"Ugh... I don't know anymore, I think that vodka made me black out or something, I can't remember a thing! When and why did I ask for this?"
"Well you didn't ask me directly, a prinny messenger came to me with a letter that told me to do this- it matched your handwriting, so I did it; but I did think it was quite suspiscious that you asked me to add a potent demon poison to your food rather than just coming to me directly and taking it if you really wanted it." Mr. Champloo shrugged.
"So someone wants to kill me, and they must've gotten a pretty good hint how, cuz it certainly would've killed me if not for my drinking habits... hmmm... must be a real dirtball if they're willing to sink that low to kill me... which means it could be anybody; I suppose it'll come up later- but that still doesn't explain how I ended up in front of the AV room before I passed out."
"That's where you were drinking- you knew where Mao was going and you were going to offer him assistance, so you wouldn't have to fight them all yourself."
"Huh, how... ironic that it turned out like this, huh?"
"I agree- while you were busy making an old specialty, an accident appears to have resulted a totally new- and particularly succulent- meal." Mr. Champloo laughed.
"Yeah well it was a one-time deal, so you better have enjoyed it while it lasted." Raspberyl's Father said as he herded the remaining delinquents out of the room for some serious re-education.
Which leaves me to ponder what I'm going to tell Raspberyl once she wakes up... Or I could just use Plan 'B'- avoid her until something bigger comes up, or I have a chance to explain... Ugh... everything about the entire middle of the battle is already blank to me- I wonder what happened..? Nothing TOO humiliating, I hope...
Although on a brighter note, I still remember that beautiful human girl's name! Sapphire, Sapphire, Sapphire~ I wonder what she thinks of me? More importantly, I wonder what she thinks of that mouse-boy, being the only other human around..? Oh, the memories of beautiful princesses and the daring heroes that tried to save them from me, only to have their skin eaten off by hordes of vermin when they inevitably failed... Yeah... maybe I should take a trip to the human world to see what stories they have about me? Later, perhaps; now is time for re-education!