The sun was shining, birds could be heard chirping and students could be heard getting rowdy as their teacher had yet to arrive at the classroom.
"Let's get this over with…" The middle aged teacher, a woman by the name of Suko Nishi muttered as they closed in the rambunctious third years. Somewhere between having the weight of the world on her shoulders and half passed no cares to give Suko Nishi was a woman who dressed in a well tailored suit including pants though oddly enough she wore a pair of white sneakers instead of formal dress shoes.
"Alright Class," the exhausted woman said, drawing the rambunctious teens attention as she placed her syllabus binder onto her lecture podium.
"I know the situation is a bit strange but we have a transfer student from America joining us this year. Mr. Jaga, please introduce yourself."
With that being his que Faer looked to the classroom briefly taking them in. No one in this class was distinct in any real way.
"My name is Jaecar Faer."
"Hmm, he's a bit mysterious isn't he?"
"He's definitely got a focused look to him…"
"I saw him with Ms. Kirijo yesterday."
"Woah, you think he's her fiance? He might have dark skin but he's surprisingly elegant looking."
"I bet he's rich."
"Damn Gaijins…"
"His name is hard to say."
With the crack of a ruler against the lecturing podium the teacher reigned in the class.
"Now then, with introductions complete, Mr. Jaga please sit in the third row in the seat by the window."
It was surreal, Faer was back in school. He knew he had finished it and had been a military man for a few years, even without remembering any of his personal experiences he knew without a doubt that he still had more general life experience than the children he was surrounded by.
But he wouldn't raise a fuss. After all, he's getting paid to be here. It also seems like he wouldn't have comprehension issues here either, after all he seemed to be a polygoat now.
With that said he cracked open the textbook for the class he was taking, Japanese, and followed along for the lessons.
Time slipped away and before he knew it he was in the lunch break. But seeing as though he didn't need to attend to anything urgent nor was he particularly hungry Faer figured that now would be a good time to finish reading through that manual.
Unfortunately things wouldn't go his way.
"Mr. Jaeca, a word, if you wouldn't mind."
It was Mitsuru, with a pensive look on her face. What she wanted Faer had a few guesses but nothing concrete. And seeing as there wasn't much else but to pour over the skill manual he figured this wouldn't be too bad.
"Lead the way, Ms. Kirijo." Faer acquiesced as he stood to his feet.
"I knew it!"
"It's so over…"
"Don't tell me those Manga are true!"
As the duo walked out Faer again couldn't help but notice how he towered, standing at his full height of 6' over the heiress who if he had to guess without her boots was 5' 5 at best. And while he wasn't one for gossiping, the sidebar commentary highlighting an "attractive difference" between them definitely didn't help.
Before he knew it he found himself in the school library as Mitsuru cornered him in the back. It was sparsely populated during this time of day but it wouldn't be surprising to the transfer student if the rumor mill was already in full swing by this point.
"What happened last night? I saw the pictures before the repairs took place but I know… I can tell the casualties were nothing to scoff at."
How?
Faer wasn't under the impression that the U.N. would be for sharing their black eyes with the Kirijo Group or anyone not on a need to know basis considering that they weren't supposed to be here.
"I'm not at liberty to say. But I can say that it was bad, start to finish."
"Yes, I can tell. You, yourself almost died, even if your presence got stronger by the end."
Literally fucking how.
"I'm tougher than I look."
"I've gathered that. Your file might be mostly blacked out ink but what is there shows that you aren't one to be underestimated."
Ever so slightly the redhead's eyebrow slanted downward on her stoic face.
This girl loves to just tease at information, doesn't she? Too bad, someone who doesn't know what's written down can't leak the information.
"Is that so?"
"Do you believe otherwise?" The heiress states arching a single eyebrow, painting the very picture of sarcastic disbelief.
She was good at conveying things without moving her face very much. It was impressive.
"Regardless, I wish to know more. You don't need to detail the encounter, in a phrase I would like to know how you think Demons stack up against the forces mustered here."
As plainly as possible with no details…
"There is a reason why humans developed to use tools and why we're a social species. They reminded me of that."
"You're quite humble, aren't you?"
"I'll have to disagree with you there."
A small huff passed through the heiress' lips. That might be the closest the foreigner had ever gotten to a positive response out of the taciturn woman.
"I bid you adieu."
With that said the woman turned on her heels and walked away, arms crossed and pensive of something Faer couldn't discern.
It wasn't his business.
If there was time he might get back in time to finish that skill manual.
As it turned out there just barely wasn't enough time to finish but with everything going as it has so far he'd have more than enough time to finish before the Dark Hour.
Of course that would have to be after he spent some time studying. He might as well be diligent, after all perception was reality and reality was if he played part of a good noodle he'd be able to get some slack.
Walking down the stairs shifting his thoughts back to the fight from last night Faer crashed into someone, lost in his thoughts.
With school having just let out it really shouldn't have been a surprise.
Thankfully with his reflexes still being on edge from last night, he easily caught the person before they lost their precarious balance.
"Wah, oh thanks for the… help."
It was a girl with shoulder length brown hair wearing a pink cardigan over her uniform. It played well with the red bow that comes with the female uniform though it is slightly surprising that she wasn't reprimanded for modifying the uniform.
"No, problem. I should've been paying more attention."
That said more attention had revealed that this girl had calloused fingers and that sweater had hidden a bit of muscle.
"I could easily say the same… oh hey! I mean excuse me, aren't you the foreigner that was seen with Mitsuru-Senpai?"
It was posed as a question but at the same time it really wasn't. She stated it as surely as someone would say it's bright outside.
"I suppose that I am."
"Where did you guys meet, if you don't mind my asking?"
"During a tour."
"Er… I see. Sorry if that was a weird question… oh by the way, my name is Takeba Yukari. Pleased to meet you."
"Jaecar Faer."
"Right, then, excuse me Jacur-Senpai."
With that the cardigan-wearing girl -Yukari stepped back, gave a shallow bow and walked up the stairs.
Well that was a bit odd.
Faer was feeling adventurous, not to mention he needed more medical supplies. Especially if last night was an apt description for the level of opposition that he would be facing.
Walking into the clinic the cashier was a young woman in her early 20s that clearly wasn't all there at the moment. Especially if how she chewed her gum and didn't bother looking up from her magazine was an indicator.
"50 vials of medical powder."
With a swift lethargy the woman pulled a small box from behind the counter and scanned it, with a quickness that showed familiarity.
"If that's all, please pay up."
How politely rude.
But to the point.
With a swipe of his fancy black card Faer paid the fee and left the clinic while shoving his haul into his inventory space.
「Inventory」
【Inventory】
【Evoker: A gun built to as a conduit for magical energy.】
【Full Tang Combat Knife: A Mundane knife with an edge that won't dull easily. 】
【FN F2000: The FN F2000 is a 5.56×45mm NATO bullpup rifle, designed by FN Herstal in Belgium. Surprisingly rugged.】
【Medical Powder(50): A dubious substance that appears to be magical in nature. Heals 100 Hp.】
The haul hadn't been too bad but with how everything was going, Faer wasn't sure how he would fare seeing as though it was inevitable that the Demons would get stronger as well.
That said, there was something about his "skills" that bothered him. Primarily being the description for most of his skills had been framed in a manner that didn't imply that most of them wouldn't have any type of growth to them or that they, much like the skills he gets through manuals, have to be thoroughly understood before he'll see any growth to them.
Issue also seemed to be that he had no way implementing some of these passive skills at this moment in time seeing as though the Contractor had been sent by himself and had no back up.
"What a pain."
Putting effort into walking back to his apartment after all that skill wasn't going to learn itself.
It was late at night in the Iwatodai Dormitories.
It was another night of work for Mitsuru Kirijo. From screening in new potential members of her SEES to doing homework and going through budget ledgers.
Unlike most nights the chairman Shuji Itsutsuki was here. Unlike most times he wasn't a complete pain to deal with, as he was teaching Yukari Takeba how to use the equipment available to them from the demon detection equipment to the CCTV that was connected to the city cameras.
It was something of a lucky find for them to find her before some of the more unscrupulous figures on the island got to her.
"That foreigner, Faer Jaecar, why do you think they sent him here, Sir?" the heiress called out interrupting the head master.
"Oh, did you come to finish your work Mitsuru? Well I can't say for sure but it must have something to do with one of the events. Where in Demons walked the earth and the world as we know it was about to end. Perhaps he was instrumental to how the entire situation was resolved."
From the console seat Yukari couldn't help but perk up. Was that foreigner involved in the Tokyo incident? After all it wasn't like the entire world wasn't completely unaware of it happening only that it did and later on in 06 that people all over the world claimed that they were being possessed.
"Why the interest, Mitsuru, you don't normally take much interest in the comings and goings of the soldiers. More so after they've put an effort into containing Demons."
"Which only happened after they tried to use high ordnance explosives to find a way around the reality warping stairs."
"Yes, those… Reapers. If it hadn't been for him being there that night Akihiko might've died that night."
Again Yukari couldn't help but think that she might be a bit over head with all of this. After all, Sanada-Senpai seemed to be extremely competent if not strong.
"Since then Akihiko has been getting himself into whatever mess he can."
"Ah, that's right, Yukari, this all must sound a bit overwhelming. Especially considering that we're talking about this whilst still screening Minato to see if he has the potential."
It hadn't until you bought up how actual soldiers were fighting against this threat. Is what the girl would have said, but she had her reasons for being here. They were rapidly being validated as well.
Regardless she wouldn't let them see her unnerved.
The power flickered, and then they were sitting in The Dark Hour.
"Hmm... He's still sleeping. The Dark Hour occurs every day at 12 midnight; you could say it's the "hidden" hour. During time, an ordinary person Transmogrified into a coffin, and is oblivious to all that occurs."
The suit clad man says as he brings his attention back to the screen, with an almost excited look in his eyes.
"Then he must have…" Yukari peaks up trying to get a handle on the situation.
"It's a bit soon to determine that much, after all even if his human body is experiencing the dark hour, that doesn't necessarily mean he has the potential. Although if he were completely defenseless he would've been preyed upon by now."
The sophomore couldn't help but think that is a ruthless stance to take, but could they afford to be relaxed about this?
"All the more reason to keep monitoring him I suppose. Ah, speaking of monitoring, Mitsuru, is Akihiko out tonight?"
"I believe so, also a moment to check," with a smooth movement the heiress had drawn her Evoker and placed it to her head already squeezing the trigger.
Crash
"Persona!" the heiress declared as an eruption of blue energy and the sound of glass shattering echoed out in the room. The energy coalesced into a female knight with a small crown dual wielding, a saber in one hand and a broadsword in the other.
The heiress wasted no time using her spirit's auxiliary abilities to use. The royally designed knight placed her blade in front of her face plate taking up a position similar to a sword salute.
"Tch. I told you this wasn't a game, Akihiko…"
"Is Sanada-Senpai alright?"
"He's in a fight right now. It doesn't look like he's being overwhelmed but he's being pushed back."
"Should we do something, Mitsuru-Senpai?"
"No, not yet. If things escalate that choice may be made for us but for now we'll have trust that UNDIT can provide him the help he needs to pull through."
"UNDIT? Sorry Senpai, there's just…"
"To be brief, UNDIT is the response force for the supernatural, they aren't our allies but they aren't our enemies either. The United Nations Demon Investigation Team was born of the leftovers from an incident."
The heiress explains as a grimace flashes onto her face before she forces it to relax.
"Mitsuru is right, after all if you leave now, who will defend Minato?" The chairman says as he leans back into his chair.
Damn this fight… was intense.
Akihiko thought to himself as he easily bobbed and weaved through the icicles thrown at him by the Asparas. Launching himself at the demon he threw a tight hook at the diminutive woman destroying her with a single hit.
Though that may be in part because of the new soldiers here. They were strong and fast, some even amazingly ahead of him but they hadn't been used to this kind of tempo.
It showed in their endurance. They used up their stamina too quickly on flashy attacks that were overkill for the level of foes they were fighting right now.
As he slammed an elbow into the throat of an Incubus to make space to draw his Evoker, the silver haired youth couldn't help but think that it was a bit disappointing.
Well there was a single silver lining.
That foreigner without the Demonica was good. Skilled but at this moment, not strong. He picked his fights wisely either teaming up with someone or pouncing on the Demons that weren't paying him much attention.
That wasn't to say that he was weak either, he'd seen the big guy snap a Liliths neck after laying into her with a mean combo.
But other than that things weren't looking great, manageable sure but it wouldn't be a cake walk.
It might tire him out since the technique was a bit beyond him still, but it would give them an edge!
"Mazio!"
Lightning arched through the myriad of Demons and his inexperience showed here since it visibly lost power instead hitting them all with equal force… but it worked.
The enemies were knocked off balance.
"Alright Soldiers let's take them out."
Heh, he'd been waiting for this part.
Charging in Akihiko could see that some of the more agile soldiers had seemingly become blurs due to the acrobatics they were pulling while others, like the foreigner without the armor charged in on foot.
As they splashed through the shallow puddles of blood had used his still summoned Persona to cast Tarunda on the first demon he was close to, a Formor who had been especially hurt by his Mazio.
It didn't offer much resistance before the vest wearing boy.
He was in his element.
In a flurry of destructive blows that made the boxer's heart sore, Demon after Demon had fallen beneath their opposition.
It was hard to get this type of high just practicing boxing now.
But that practice made this all the more worth it.
Combos that Akihiko had drilled for years flew from his hands and landed on foes that found no reprieve by stepping away.
Swords, Spears, sporadic gunfire, screeches and then silence.
"Man, if only Shinji was here."
To his left he could see that the Foreigner was catching his breath, and oddly enough he was wearing the Gekkoukan High uniform.
"Hey, you doing alright?"
Noticing he was being called the hazel-green eyed foreigner met his eyes with a level glance.
"... Yeah, I've had worse."
"You're involved with Gekkoukan?"
"For now. Until this Dark Hour nonsense is figured out."
Of course, it wouldn't do to have this done half-assed.
"I'm a Contractor hired by UNDIT, Jaecar Faer. I also transferred into class 3-B as part of my cover."
"I see, I won't stand in the way of that, but I'd like you to become my sparring partner. It's the only way I can get more fighting experience outside of the Dark Hour."
"Why? I saw how you were fighting. You know what you're doing out there…"
"Ah, that's right. Sanada Akihiko. Anyways it's not about that, or at least this level of opposition isn't really the peak of what the Dark Hour has to offer and if anyone is ever going to get strong enough to handle it they'd need to immerse themselves in combat."
After all Tartarus was the tower of hell and it had to be treated as such.
"I'll defer to your experience then Sanada-San, just give me a time and location and I'll be there."
The Dark Hour was something that Faer was still getting used to.
Tucking his head beneath an errant ball of fire the pumped up young adult lashed out with his knife contesting a four armed blue skinned Demon woman wielding scimitar.
Each clash had to be swung with his full strength, this demon was simply that much stronger than him.
As he used the errant force to throw himself to the side he had to except reality.
Alone, he would perish.
Hell, based on the look on her face she was playing with him too, seemingly not worried about his ability at all. So in all likelihood Faer wouldn't perish, he would be ripped asunder.
Demons were strong. He was not. Unacceptable.
Gunfire smacked into the Demoness from the side making her flinch, turning into the rapid onslaught of bullets she had shown what the gap between their abilities were.
Every round had been blocked or redirected with contemptuous ease, however that would be the reason for her death.
With the demon distracted Faer quickly closed the gap between them and aimed his knife between the fourth and fifth ribs of the demon.
Gasping the Demon threw her arm in the foreigner making him dislodge the knife with a messy exit. Clutching her wound the demon looked to him only to be staring down the barrel of the Evoker, with a pull of the trigger the magic gun had eliminated the demon.
"Fuck."
He was getting strong, but death seemed to stalk him.
With a sigh the boy threw himself back into the frey.
He really needed to learn the names of these Demons, he thought as he threw himself into a slide dodging under the same kind of cartoonish looking Dog demon he had gotten the drop on the night before.
With the animals back to him again the Contractor pulled his Evoker and managed to press out two shots, the first smacking into the back of the demon's head, the other into its eye since it turned faster than Faer had anticipated, destroying the Demon.
Looking around for his next battle Faer pulled his FN F2000 from his inventory while getting himself behind a wall, with a bit of distance he'd be able to provide better assistance, given that right now he was running around with his head cut off and no one had any orders to give.
Which in all honesty was understandable, the day before had been a shit show for UNDIT that they couldn't just walk off. Moreover it was easy to tell who was leading the assault and target them.
The Demons weren't as much of a problem so long as you allowed them to divide up the group to their likings.
Faer honestly thought it was a horseshit philosophy but whatever command structures and standard operating procedures were supposed to be in place must've been thrown out for a reason.
Even if that reason might be responsible for the meat grinder he went through last night.
Placing shots down range and allowing people second chances was always a good thing… It's just that a high schooler had been here this whole time and he seemed to be having an easier time controlling the flow of battle around himself.
Hell, most of his hits killed demons in a single strike, it was a bit monstrous to witness to be honest.
The silver haired youth dove into a blue demon that looked like that looked like one he just killed, a jab that lashes out through her guard into her chin, a tuck underneath her retaliatory swipe of scimitar and before she can follow up a hook lands into where her kidneys would be had she been human.
Crumpling around his fist she left her other side completely exposed, which the boy had ruthlessly taken advantage of with another hook, bowing her head down it was over the boy laid into her with a combo Faer had trouble keeping up with before sending her flying.
She didn't even hit the ground before she died.
That guy was something else.
Enough distractions, Faer had committed himself to playing overwatch a while longer until he ran dry.
"Guess I've got no choice but to finish this down and dirty," the foreigner comments looking at his knife.
Throwing himself into the fight again, Faer was immediately hit with a gust of cutting wind, honestly of all the magic he had been hit with so far that was definitely the easiest to handle.
Looking for what had hit him, Faer narrowly rolled out the way of a drop kick that cracked the concrete beneath his feet.
But he was definitely too slow to stop himself being punted into a street lamp.
Blinding sharp pain hit his back but he couldn't move his legs.
"Damn humans, always getting in the way."
Faer coughed out blood as his vision shook, coming across the same Demon that he had shot yesterday.
"This one killed my sister, won't you do something Minataka-"
A growl cut her off, but a strange grin grew on the cream colored Demoness face.
Minakata as he was called was a green armless demon with horns coming in through is black hair styled like a regal noble. Dressed in white ceremonial styled robes Faer couldn't help but get the sense there was something greater to him than the other riff raff. And if he was reading the intent in the air right, those ropes he had around his chest had been limiting him.
With a growl the Demon had turned to the girl who had thrown her hands up in mock surrender as walked away from the fight entirely.
As the Demoness turned her attention back to what ought to have been her prey she had been caught with a right hook.
"Keep your eyes on the prize!"
What followed after was less of a fight and more of an act of brutality.
That fight was both easier and harder for Faer. Easier because he could feel the difference in his abilities from the day before but it had been harder because he had been fighting so much more.
And had his spine broken.
The night before he was responsible for killing roughly 4 Demons, tonight, 15. Granted there had been a battle of attrition he hadn't been there for that apparently took place in the 10 minutes it took for him to arrive but tonight, start to finish he was fighting.
And it showed.
【Level Up】
【Due to intense fighting gain +2 Str】
【Due to intense fighting gain +1 Mag】
【Due to intense fighting gain +1 Dex】
『+8 Conflict Points』
『You learned Sukukaja』
「Summary」
【Name: Faer Jaecar】
【Level 3】
『HP: 169/169』
『MP: 18/18』
『Str: 5』
『Agi: 2(3.4)』
『End: 5』
『Int: 3』
『Mag: 4』
『Dex: 5』
『Luk: 3』
Conflict Points: 14
Available Stat Points: 5
【Skills】
【Inventory】
【Conflict Store Unlocked】
"What the-"
【The conflict store allows the Contractor to make use of extra universal powers, some native to the universe others out of context to it. Regardless, Power requires Sacrifice be it funds or something of a more curious nature.】
It had been what felt like forever since Faer had received any kind of information from the System and while this didn't have the same flavor for lack of better terms it was rather close.
And these powers may or may not be something that could help close the gap between him and whatever threats are hiding in the shadows.
Or at the very least be used to stir up more conflict… which in turn could be used to get more powers… and this could really get out of hand.
An addiction to power might actually become an issue to deal with. It probably wouldn't hurt to at least look through the catalog and see what there was to offer… later.
After he finishes that damn skill manual.