"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Tayama yelled. A few members of the Ashura-Kai gulped as they knew that their boss was utterly pissed at their recent failure.

"FIRST THE FAILURE TO DESTROY AKIBAHARA, THEN THE FAILURE TO STOP HUNTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNTER-DEMON FORCE FROM RETAKING THEIR BASE AT KASUMIGASEKI AND NOW YOU GUYS FAILED TO STOP THE NEWLY-REFORMED COUNTER-DEMON FORCE FROM TAKING THE CITY OF UENO FROM US! YOU ALL ARE IMBECILES! BOLLOCK-BRAINED FOOLS! SHIT-HEADED NINCOMPOOPS! CAN'T YOU FUCKING IDIOTS DO ANYTHING RIGHT!?"

"Sir, it's not our fault! That wretched Defense Divinity and Amaterasu are to blame!" a senior member of the Ashura-Kai said.

"GRRR, I WILL NOT LET ANYTHING STRUT ABOUT AND TAKE CONTROL OF TOKYO FROM ME, ESPECIALLY SOME GODS OF JAPAN AND A BUNCH OF UNRULY HUNTERS! AMATERASU AND THE COUNTER-DEMON FORCE MUST BE ELIMINATED AND KOGA SABURO'S MEDIUM MUST BE CAPTURED!"

"If the Counter-Demon Force is working closely with Koga Saburo, it will be difficult to take his medium. He is sure to remain in Kasumigaseki as is Amaterasu if the Japanese Sun Goddess's current power is any indication."

"ENOUGH EXCUSES! YOU ALL NEED TO COME UP WITH 'ONE GOOD PLAN,' OR ELSE!"

"How can we get ourselves out of this predicament?" the senior member said of a few of his buddies.

"There must be some way to lure Koga Saburo away from the Counter-Demon Force base. Say, do any of you remember 4 years ago when a pack of hooligans were squatting at Club Milton?" a young member of the Ashura-Kai said.

"Oh, that mess. I hate to have to use this, but Red production has been stable for a good three years now. It has helped that we stationed Tenkai at the entrance to Midtown to stop anyone from entering the nerve-center of our operation. We'll lure Koga Saburo to Club Milton with the idea of forcing him to squat there, then we'll call some hunters loyal to us in to finish him off."

"Hmm, that could work. In any case, we have our plan."

Tayama seemed to have regained his composure and said, "It seems that you guys came up with a good plan. Excellent. We should start making preparations now. Get ready to face my wrath, Koga Saburo! Hahahahahahahaha!"

At the Counter-Demon Force base, Amaterasu was busy inside the briefing room with Futotama. They were busy along with a few hunters discussing plans to rebuild a bridge so that it would be possible to launch an attack and take control of Shinjuku from the Ashura-Kai.

"The main attack force will tread through the poisonous swamp and set up a base camp at Nakano. From there they'll need to additional personnel until they have enough to storm the Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Office. Meanwhile, the second group should take the eastern part of the district and secure it." a hunter said.

"The Ashura-Kai are sure to be formulating plans to try to take control of Kasumigaseki now. We haven't tried to disturb the Terminal Guardian yet, but sooner or later someone's gonna have to evict him from the terminal here in the base and at Ueno." Another hunter said.

"It will be too dangerous for me to lead. The Ashura-Kai's forces will know to target me now." Amaterasu said.

"And we don't know if Fujiwara and Skins are still holed up in Cafe Florida since the guard won't let anyone pass without showing 'proof of membership' to him."

"That's gotta be a matchbox! That Hikaru girl who mysteriously appeared after the ceiling appeared has one and with it I saw her enter the Cafe." a third hunter exclaimed.

"Well, look who's talking. Hikaru's been strutting around Tokyo like she controls the city instead of the Ashura-Kai! They don't try to mess with her and the one time a member of their organization groped her, she pinned the unfortunate guy against a wall and crushed his family jewels with her butt! Then again, we don't mess with her ever since I heard that from a hunter who witnessed the incident." a fourth hunter remarked.

"Yeah, and the demons seem to ignore her completely whenever she's wandering the streets. One of my buddies had managed to peek up her skirt when she bent forward to pick up 200 Macca and the wind blew at just the right time for him to take in the view. He also managed to capture it on his camera and the photo, while it's in black and white due to his camera's printer being damaged slightly, confirmed that Hikaru actually wears panties under her skirt." a fifth hunter said.

"Ugh, at times you men really think about dirty stuff, don't you?" a female hunter spoke up.

"Yeah, then again if it weren't for Hikaru being around, the male hunters would be trying to peep on us when we bathe." another female hunter said.

"You got that right, Nozomi."

Meanwhile at Tsukiji Hongwanji, Rise had managed to get an audience with Yuriko when she arrived at the entrance to the Ring of Gaea's stronghold. The meeting was very useful when it came to getting information as she learned that several members of the Ring were preparing to attack Ikebukuro to drive out Xi Wangmu and take the district for themselves. However, the Gaea members preparing to attack learned that a Jirae Talisman was the only thing that could break the barrier currently cutting Ikebukuro off from the rest of Tokyo. Another thing was that a demon named Kuebiko was taking up residence at the Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Office along with several other Jirae demons and they were planning to make another Jirae Talisman to replace the one stolen from them by the Ashura-Kai.

Aside from that, Rise found out that major trouble would soon come. Apparently above the ceiling a group of armed men were holding a meeting and they decided that it was time to march into what they called 'the Unclean Ones' Country,' which must have meant Tokyo City itself. The good news was that the Ashura-Kai were not successful in destroying Akibahara and that the Counter-Demon Force had been re-established. They were also planning to take Shinjuku from the Ashura-Kai. That information pleased Rise as that meant she could return to her former career as an idol singer once the district was liberated.

A/N: Things are heating up chapter will be the Samurai fighting the Minotaur. Also, Aegis/Aigis will eventually make an appearance in this story as a Second Generation Anti-Demon Weapon and member of the Counter-Demon Force as the Kirijo Group and Nanjo Group haven't been established.