"Speech"

Thought

"Telepathy"

'Familiar bond'

Hello again everyone, bad news is my computer finally gave out, but good news is I have a new one now, a better one in fact. I hope you all are doing well, but here is some entertainment for you all, and a double chapter(length) at that. As a reminder, the demon kings will likely be at least a little OOC, but I don't know how much, I have not read a significant amount of the manga. Please note, I still require OCs for the following classes, aria anti-demon pharmaceuticals(Yukio is a student not a teacher) Draconic/familiar care/dragon riding and then for all the elements of magic. In order to teach a class the teacher needs to have the meister or element.

Yet again this chapter was beta read by IndigoisBlue.

The mayor sighed resting his head on his hand after finishing the report given to him by Shiro Fujimoto. A month. Demon activity has risen to the point that the other factions of the True Cross won't be here for a month, most likely. Since that is the case, I either need to use city funds to start reconstruction early by way of tradesmen, or just keep those displaced in the demon attack in shelters and provide transportation to them. Which will also need to be taken from city funds. At least there weren't any casualties. He looked out the window at the smoke rising from the residential district.

The dragons were flying in a search pattern over the area to be certain that there were no trapped civilians and the mayor suppressed a shudder at the creatures. As useful as dragons are they are still terrifying. I can't believe the exorcists are still trying to get the dragon laws repealed.

After a couple more minutes the dragons turned to the North in unison and soared back to the Monastery - the base of operations for the Knights of the True Cross in his small town. I still don't know how a small town like this managed to get the paladin stationed here, even if he doesn't want to be publicly known as such. The mayor returned to the dull logistics that always follows a demon attack, grateful that at least it had only been one demon this time.

As the exorcists and dragons flew over the wards on the walls around the Monastery Sylvia notices Rin walking through the gate eyes on the ground. Worried she speaks to Shiro over their bond, 'Rin just got back, he seems distracted. She felt Shiro's own parental concern for the boy increase. As the dragons all landed and started to make their way to the Den, Shiro unstrapped himself as she lowered her chest to the ground so he could dismount safely. Once Shiro was off she started to make her way to the Den, but stayed in tune with Shiro's senses so as to resolve her concerns about Rin.

"Hey Rin," the paladin began, "how was school?"

The boy jumped in surprise seeing his father jogging his way. "You stink Old Man."

Shiro laughed and waved an arm dismissively, "That happens when you fight a ghoul, they are the living dead after all. You avoided my question though, is something wrong?"

Rin hesitated for a moment, before saying very seriously, to the point of it being almost out of character for him, "Do you think I should write a eulogy for a bird? I only knew it for about a minute, but it was in so much pain."

Shiro froze for half a second before laughing while Sylvia slammed her head into the floor. Of course. He probably got in another fight and was trying not to let us know. I'm not sure I want to know how that had ended up happening.

When Shiro finished laughing he looked his son in the eye. "Why was the bird injured?"

Rin glanced away, "Some jerk was shooting at it with a crossbow."

Shiro sighed, closing his eyes, and pushed a little magic into them. Sure enough there was guilt there, so Shiro stopped using his magic as he reopened his eyes. "Rin? Did you hurt him?"

The teen shook his head. "No, I just threw one of the bolts through his shoe to scare him a little. I used my magic to up my reaction time to make sure it would pin his foot to the ground without hitting him."

The priest looked to the sky in exasperation. "That's not much better Rin. I understand why you couldn't let him get away with torturing the poor bird, but there is a right and wrong way to do it. The fast way can get results in the short term, but the moment the one they fear is no longer around then they will go right back to it." He looked his son in the eye, "It can work, yes, however there is always a price to violence. Even when you don't actually hurt the person's body."

Rin looked away. Sylvia hesitantly told her Rider, 'Shiro, he understands. I'm not sure how much he can control his impulses without a way to let them out, even with them dormant."

Shiro sighed, 'I know. But what am I supposed to do? He's getting incredibly strong, to the point where we have to start sparring rather than just him trying to fight me. Otherwise he might just catch me unawares at some point and I could accidentally hurt him." Okay. That's enough for now Rin, however no meat for supper today."

Rin frowned but nodded.

Rin walked out the front door of the monastery to get the mail. After he opened the mailbox he went through the letters, until he found the ones for him and Yukio. He apprehensively stared at them, and the unassuming heading. To: Okumura Rin, From: True Cross Academy. Obviously Yukio got in, he's a genius, there is no way they would be stupid enough to reject him. Me though? I'm not book smart like he is. But...I might be considered- Rin's thoughts abruptly cut off as something pricked at his senses.

"Okumura," the white haired boy from before calls out, "can we talk?"

Rin turned and saw the teen has his goons on either side of him. "Sure, go ahead."

He rolled his eyes. "Not here, I wish to speak to you about the...incident earlier. So I would greatly prefer to speak in private."

Rin paused carefully concealing his thoughts, I don't need to fear three people without magic, but there's something off about him. Add in the other two and if they try something someone could get seriously hurt. Rin shrugged, Whatever, I'm ready for it if they decide to try anything. Been training with the Old Man for years. I can control myself. "Fine."

Rin cautiously followed the three boys to an alley a block or two away. Rin looked around, taking note of his surroundings. A barrel with a fire inside to provide heat for those out and about in the cold, and a few bars of metal inside it for some reason, a couple small dumpsters, and the walls just wide enough for a pickup truck to go through, though it would lose some paint in the process.

"In case you are unaware, my name is Reiji Shiratori. This coming year I'm going to go to True Cross Academy."

Rin sighed, interrupting Shiratori. "Yeah, I can see your problem. You would be rejected or expelled in an instant if they knew that you were that much of a sadist. Don't worry, so long as I don't catch you doing it again I won't say a word." Rin turned to leave.

"Hey now, don't leave just yet, I'm going to make it worth your while." Rin saw him reach into his pocket in his peripheral vision and tensed. "Here, I know your brother got into True Cross because of how hard he studied, and with your family being broke you could use all the help you can get. His scholarship will almost certainly not cover the entire cost of tuition, so here's enough to pay the rest off."

Rin felt a flash of anger, but carefully controlled it. "Don't bother, my brother got the full ride, and we got the letters today," Rin holds up the envelopes still in his hand. "We don't need your money."

Shiratori sneered as he saw the front envelope. "Seriously Okumura? You tried to get in too? I mean Yukio is one thing, he actually studies, he works hard to make up for his...hah, deficiencies, but you? What could you possibly do."

Rin froze in shock. A split second later after he processed what Shiratori said something in his mind screamed in rage and Rin looked down and took a deep breath, allowing the slightest hint of blue to light in his throat as he exhaled, extinguishing the flame before it was visible to the others in the alley. He turned to them, eyes glowing ever so slightly and locked eyes with the leader.

"Say what you like about me, but you leave my brother alone!"

The two boys flanking Shiratori shifted nervously at Rin's voice, something about it unsettling them, though they did not know what. They glanced at their friend, as he laughed. "Or what Okumura? I'm offering you money, besides I complimented him, I said he worked hard."

Rin takes a step forward, planting his foot hard enough it punched through the pavement. "That's my brother you dissed. And don't deny it, we all know what you said."

Suddenly Shiratori lunged forward, growing a pair of ram's horns, and a tail with a sharp blade at the end on the top while coal tars gathered around him.

Rin bent backwards to dodge the grasping hand of Shiratori, but didn't have time to straighten before the tail whipped out, wrapping around Rin's shin just below the blade, and pulled the leg out from under him causing Rin to lose balance and fall on his back. With a kick Shiratori rolled him onto his stomach, winding him, before planting a knee on his lower back further impeding his breathing.

"Oi, give me one of those rods. I'm gonna give the freak a scare." the two boys look at each other, terrified how easily Shiratori defeated someone with magic. Hesitantly one of the boys grabbed one of the rods from the fire and brought it to his boss.

"I-I'll go k-keep watch," the second stutters, before running to the alley entrance.

Rin, struggling to breath, slowly reached for his pocket. This guy's possessed. The Old Man always said demons were powerful, but this is way more than I thought it would be. I need to call for help, but if it realizes that's what I'm trying to do I'm dead for sure. If I could just reach my phone...but before Rin could get his hand in his pocket to type a blind SOS, he felt heat approaching his face and looked towards it in horror.

"You should have accepted my offer Okumura, now I'm gonna have to blind you. I might just kill you actually, can't risk you blowing my cover after all." The glowing red rod suddenly meets his skin, just missing his eyes, and Rin screams in pain as he struggled to keep up the Mana Skin, but his reserves are burning up fast, as his panic increases he senses...something in the last dregs of his mana, and he grasped it mentally and yanked to try to save himself, and there was an explosion of his flames, knocking Shiratori up and away.

Rin got up quickly spinning to face his demonic foe, as he flips over to land on his feet, and to Rin's shock and suspicion, the demon falls to one knee, and twists his right hand over his heart so the palm is facing Rin, with his elbow down at his side. "My apologies, brother, I had to confirm your identity. We have been searching for you for a long time."

Rin froze but soon after heard the most wonderful sound in his entire life. A dragon's roar. Unfortunately he saw that the demon also heard it, judging from his scowl. "I'm afraid time is short, we have to hurry and leave, lest the exorcists arrive and kill us. Come with me, I will explain everything once we are safe." Shiratori stood and offered his hand to Rin while he looked to the sky in the direction of the roar.

Come to think of it, that sounded to be in the opposite direction of the Monast-

"RIN GET DOWN" Sylvia shouted in his mind, and without hesitation Rin dove to the ground, just before a strong wind passed right above him and a roar, before a loud crack, as a dragon launched itself at top speed into the alley, wings and legs tucked tightly to its body, from the road where the boy went to keep watch. The dragon made it through the alley in half a second, biting the demon and dragging it out of the alley before he even knew what hit him, letting him slam into a nearby building while it spread its wings once more taking to the skies once again.

Rin quickly stood up and ran the other way, to see Sylvia land in front of him growling menacingly looking past him. Rin felt a brief flash of fear, having never seen the dragons in combat before, but knew Sylvia would never intentionally hurt him, and seeing his father in the saddle, looking afraid, reaching for Rin, the course of action was clear. Rin leapt, and rather than landing on her shoulder, where he could grasp his fathers hand and be pulled on top of Sylvia, he almost cleared the silver dragon before his father grabbed his ankle pulling his son down in the saddle.

As soon as Rin was secure in the saddle in front of his father, Sylvia took to the skies, just in time as Shiratori slammed his fist in the car that was just behind her. She swerved right to dodge the thrown car before quickly adjusting her course for the Monastery, while Chrono dove the demon from behind roaring at it and slowing it down while his rider summoned a salamander to stall for time while they retreated to the Monastery to reinforce the wards.

When they get into the Monastery walls Rin is shocked to see the amount of explosives and munitions in all the dragons' saddles, guns sticking out of almost every bag. Shiro puts his hands on his son's shoulders. "Rin, we are up against one of the eight demon kings. More specifically, the King of Rot, Astaroth. You and Yukio need to hide, go into the Monastery, I'll be in in a moment. I'll explain as much as I have time for then, but just in case, here is my phone, it only has one number saved in it. Find him, he knows everything, and whatever you do, do not unsheathe the blue sword. He pushed his son before giving out rapid fire orders to the other exorcists and dragons.

Rin went inside and saw Yukio standing near the displaced pulpit. "Yukio," Rin called as he ran up to his brother, "what's going on?"

"I don't know," his brother replied fearfully.

I could have made that one chapter, but since I was so late, here's a second.

Astaroth grinned wildly as he jumped to avoid the worst of the hellfire. So it is true, someone has finally inherited fathers flames. Astaroth easily did a double backflip, turned around, and did a front flip before he even touched the ground, as he landed he rolled to bleed off some more momentum so as not to waste any magic - it does not pay to get sloppy - before he popped out of the roll, and performed a front half to face his brother once more, kneeling so as to make sure to appear less of a threat.

Taking a breath, and organizing his thoughts as he twists his arm as his father taught the entire demon race to when speaking to any of his family, Astaroth looks up to his brother, noting how even still his magic seems so weak, even though it is much stronger than a couple moments ago. "My apologies, brother, I had to confirm your identity. We have been searching for you for a long time."

As the child froze Astaroth wandered if he was speaking the correct language momentarily, but then he heard a dreadful roar. That's a spirit dragon. That is unfortunate, they can be quite annoying, and where there is one dragon there are always more. And with the boy's powers likely sealed, at least partially, it could prove challenging to protect him while fighting off the exorcists. "I'm afraid time is short, we have to hurry and leave, lest the exorcists arrive and kill us. Come with me, I will explain everything once we are safe." He distractedly offered his brother a hand, intending on picking him up once he relaxed before leaping to the rooftops so at least he could see the direction of the dragons. Opening and stabilizing the Gehenna Gate would take too long for his brother to escape.

When he heard his brother dive to the ground behind him, he realized that it was a trap, but before he could turn around, he heard a time dragons roar, before his mind clouded. He climbed out of the hole in the building and threw a chunk of rubble at the time dragon. Astaroth smirked in satisfaction as the cement shattered on the dragon's head, making it destabilize in flight and nearly crash before it recovered.

Astaroth turned back to the alley, and felt a brief flash of fear at seeing the exorcist's hand wrapped around the ankle of the Prince. The fear soon turned to rage and he charged, leaping in the air, but the dragon moved out of the way at the last second, taking to the skies, and Astaroth groaned in annoyance as his fist was buried in one of the human metal contraptions. He ripped his hand out of it, before picking the whole thing up in one hand. After a moment to judge the dragon's height and speed, he threw it as hard as he could, but knew the dragon was already too far away to hit unless they didn't notice it. Sure enough the stupid specter swerved to avoid it, before continuing south. Luckily Astaroth knew where they were going. Unfortunately he did not know how many exorcists were here, surely not only two.

Then his mind clouded again. A salamander was mauling him, or trying to at least. Astaroth just looked down at it unimpressed with it's stupidity. He let his magic pulse out at full strength for just a moment to reveal his location to his kin, while minimizing the damage to his host, with the added bonus of vaporizing the salamander and anything else within twenty feet of him. He shook his head dismissing Shiratori's protests. He turned and started to walk towards the Southern Cross Monastery and thought about how best to rescue his brother from the exorcists' clutches.

Then he got hit by a truck.

He stumbled. That actually hurt a little.

The driver looked at him in terror, realizing just what he hit, before trying to put the truck in reverse. Before he could, Astaroth hopped on the hood, and punched through the windshield, and some shards of glass pierced the driver in various areas. "I'm afraid I need to confiscate this. It will make penetrating the exorcists' defenses much easier, thank you for your contribution." He activated his magic to decay the corpse just enough to allow a zombie to possess it, before kicking it out of the truck and climbing in the driver's seat. He grinned and carefully stepped on the gas so he didn't kick through the metal.

Shiro rushed back into the Monastery, up to his twin sons. "Ok boys, I don't know how long I have before they attack, so I'm going to try to keep this quick, and remember, no matter what happens I love you both. You are my sons, and the truth of your birth does not change that." He opened a trap door in the floor the boys hadn't noticed. "Quickly, in here." He goes down the stairs to a cabinet neither brother recognized. Shiro then pulled a key from a hidden compartment in the wall, before slotting it into a keyhole on the cabinet. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." He turned the key and there was a click, which echoed.

The paladin pulls it open, and there on the back wall are three swords, and a pistol. Shiro grabs one and the pistol, handing them to Yukio. "These are for you," then he grabbed the only one with a colored sheath, a blue one. With scraps of paper with scorched edges on the sheath and the small silver handguard. Shiro slows down and looks them in the eyes. "This sword must never, ever be drawn. The moment it is, Rin's life as a human is over. I am sorry but I lied to the two of you about your father when you were children. Your father was never an exorcist, however he did murder over a hundred in a single night. He is a demon. What's more, the demon of demons, your biological father was Satan. Yukio did not inherit much, if anything from Satan. But Rin, you had been cloaked in blue flames when you were born."

"I had loved your mother, but I had been tasked with killing the son of Satan by the Vatican. A friend of mine came with me, the person whose number is saved on the phone I gave Rin. We sealed his demonic powers, and as much of the demonic influence that we could in the sword, and when we sheathed it, we put many more seals on it so as to keep it contained. The demon attacking is your half brother, Astaroth, one of the eight demon kings, and by a large margin one of the most powerful demons known to man. The demon kings cannot be fought, merely stalled, thankfully we have a king of our own, we can hold Astaroth off for a little, since most of us are about the same level of strength as an Arc Knight, I need you two to stay here. The wards are incredibly powerful on this room, the demons won't even notice it, even if they manage to dig out the ground all around it. The only reason this is possible is it is right above a ley line."

There was a series of roars followed by a loud crash. "Oh no…they're already here. I love you both, which is why I need to get up there and fight, you two will only get in the way, stay here, stay hidden, and stay safe." Shiro turned and ran up the stairs closing the trap door before either boy could react, then there was a scraping sound and the boys realized Shiro put the pulpit back over the door.

Sylvia let out a haunting screech, causing the canine ghouls attacking the Monastery in front of her to be overcome with an unnatural, all consuming, terror, making them turn tail and run. Sylvia grabbed a ghoul in each of her talons as she flew over them, and squeezed, crushing their bodies, before flinging them in the sky just as they let out their unnatural, rotting fumes. She then felt a terrible dread, and turned her eyes in the direction of it, to see Pyro diving a delivery truck, racing for the gates. No!

She flapped hard, halting her momentum, before diving to reverse her direction back to the gates, though she knew she would never make it in time. Pyro let out a river of fire, hitting the truck directly, though it would take a few seconds to melt the truck enough to stop it, but it was far too close to the gate. With a scream of metal, the truck slams into the gate, the bars cutting through the softened exterior, but warping and tearing themselves once the solid interior strikes, compromising the magic circle made by the walls, and allowing the demons to penetrate the compound. She and the other dragons all roared in frustration and rage.

Then out of the mangled and melted truck crawls a white haired, possessed child. A child, possessing a terrifying amount of mana to just shake off being in a crash, and a blast of dragon fire. He looked up at the dragons with a taunting smirk. Sylvia snarled in frustration, not knowing whether or not the boy was dead or not, and being unwilling to kill the boy, she decided to try using her fear-roar on him.

"Chrono, I'll get his attention, I want you to use the time-roar on him from behind. When you do, I will hit him with mine"

Chrono gave a brief assent and they started circling the boy, while the other dragons focused on dealing with the other ghouls. Sylvia dives at the demon, ready to break off at the slightest hint of retaliation, and sees Chrono dive from the other side a second later. The boy raises his arm and points at her, and she barely twists right enough to dodge the thin beam of magic. I don't want to find out what that would do, she thought. However the boy had learned from their last encounter, and was prepared. He immediately let out a pulse of magic all around him, instantly wiping six ghouls from existence around him, and rotting off the front left leg of Chrono who was too slow to dodge.

"IT'S A DEMON KING!" She called to the other dragons, as Chrono roared in pain, as he retreated to the Den to recover. The demon king turns and picks up a ghoul cat, and threw it at Sylvia, and unfortunately, she was too slow to dodge. The cat slammed into her ribs with a loud crack, and dug its claws into the thankfully unoccupied saddle's straps. In just a few seconds Sylvia was losing altitude, and the cat had made its way to her wings, and started clawing at it, just as the saddle straps it had climbed finally gave out due to the magic in its claws, and the saddle fell to the ground below.

My magic is holding out for the cat's attacks for now, but this broken rib makes it too difficult to stay airborne, much less shake it off. "Pyro, help" She called. The fire dragon ceased his assault on the demonic ground forces momentarily, assessing her situation before letting a brief wave of intense fire wash over her wing, burning the feline off, just before Sylvia landed on top of the monastery roof.

She took a moment to examine the situation, most of the ghouls have been killed, though the four she threw earlier have returned, and judging by how Nautilus is swooping in to grab one or two, crush them and throw them, he must have run out of water. Then Sylvia felt an incredible dread, as she saw Arsenic gliding silently down to the ground, straight for the King. "What are you doing Arsenic, he's too powerful to take a hit from, even for you!"

The massive dragon continued on, "I know Syl, but while his hits will hurt, and destroy me, I'm large enough that I can carry him away some and buy the rest of you time to finish off the rest of the ghouls, and for the exorcists to do more than just holding the monastery door, keeping the demons from killing them and the boys. Let's be honest here, the only reason this town has not fallen is because the entire team has dragons. There's no way we could have beaten the ghouls over the last few months with so few people, even if us, the dragons, were humans." Arsenic grabbed the king by the shoulders with his back talons, clearly surprising the demon, before the demon gave off another pulse of magic, and in an instant the hind area of the dragon decayed into nothing, but he fought through the pain long enough to toss the boy to his front talons, spreading the magic over his middle, and to his front, before throwing him as far as he could. Arsenic's head was the only thing to make it to the ground, as Izumi's screams temporarily overcame the sounds of battle.

Review responses

ShadowWolf223: Yeah, I feel bad for the pigeon's fate at the hands of that sadist as well, but it was a way to introduce Astaroth, so I kept it unfortunately.