Kotonoha Takiya's Story

Minami listened to Lukas’ and Kallen’s request for a bigger room that they can use as a workshop of sorts, in which she nodded, “There are still plenty of empty rooms in the quarter the six of you are staying at, I believe. Please feel free to use them if you want. But I would appreciate it if you perform anything that might cause damages somewhere else.”

When the two young boys excused themselves to get working on the rune, she affirmed their leaves and then turned to Takiya, “How about you? You don’t have any works to do?”

He shook his head, “Not at the moment, I guess.” Takiya gazed at the back of the two girls as they made their ways to the well, “I suppose I should go with them. Not that I was saying our defense system is bad but it’s never a waste to check everything carefully.”

“In that case, shall we join? I need to return to my position.” Minami said as she put the cup of tea down and stood up. Takiya nodded to her mother and the two of them then catch up with Risako and Ambre.

Ambre had folded her arms behind her head and followed Risako. She waved goodbye to those left at the dinner table and then saluted the bed-turned-kart right outside of the room - her lip devilishly curling as Risako passed by her improv invention.

“So it’s just guards, then?” Ambre asked Risako.“Didn’t the same guys serve the food? They sure must be busy.”

Risako shrugged as she continued walking. ”Our guards are trained to take the heat,” she said nonchalantly. ”It’s strict in Japan. No one in the right mind wants to be eaten alive.”

“I don’t suppose you’ve heard of a thing called Craigslist.” Ambre smirked, taking in the sights of the mansion. She let her fingers trail the walls and windows, checking each slightly differently looking material. “- but guarding dinner, do you think drakens would poison food?” Ambre asked, though her eyes still lingered on the architecture. “You know, they didn’t exactly storm Elise’ pillar. There’s only two things that broke in her mansion.”

“Hey, you two. We’re coming with you.” Takiya called as he and his mother approached them, “Gotta make sure you won’t be killing each other in the process.” He said with a hint of sarcasm.

Risako scoffed, rolling her eyes. ”Yeah, I’m sure you’re a wonderful guardian,” she retorted. ”But maybe stick to babysitting. It suits you.”

“If only someone wasn’t a toddler who thought it’s cool to screw things up in the most crucial of moments, I wouldn’t be having this much experience now, would I?” Takiya shrugged, “Whatever. Not that I’ve never been surrounded by a bunch of three-year-olds my whole life anyway.”

”So pretentious,” Risako retorted. She flashed her elder brother a dry smile. ”Then again, you’ve always been the perfect one. I sucked that up a long time ago.”

“At least you know your place.” He said bluntly and just went ahead, not even bothering over her any longer.

“You two just never seemed to change even after I have kicked you into your positions like this, don’t you?” Minami commented. The Vermillion girl rolled her eyes.

When they made it to the well situated at the center of the estate, the guards nodded to them and stepped aside. It looked like any other normal wells from the first look, but looking inside, there was a long ladder leading all the way down to the bottom. “Do you want to take the ladder, or do you want to jump?” Takiya asked.

“That’s a looooong way down.” Ambre whistled as she peered down the well. “I think I’ll take the scenic route.” She answered, tapping her fingers a bucket next to the water hole. The metal fractured in tiny pieces, before re-attaching itself in the form of a tiny chair and handlebar, which on it’s turn connected itself to the rope atop the well; forming a makeshift manual elevator. Ambre hopped on the chair, saluted the magic knights, and hoisted herself down.

Impressive. Takiya thought as he watched Ambre tampered with the bucket into a chair. This girl has quite a reputation of being a rather unorthodox mage of her family, and what she’s just did is the reason why. He’ll see how will this apply to actual combat, which if they are unfortunate enough, will be rather soon. Magic circuits then began to appear on his legs, magically enhanced them, and Takiya jumped into the well. He saluted Ambre in the same manner that she did earlier as the two of them free-falling.

”You two have always been polar opposites,” Minami commented to her daughter. They still haven’t entered the well yet. ”You’re everything Takiya isn’t.”

Risako smiled in almost a bitter manner. ”Basically, I’m like a mishmash of flaws.” Risako didn’t give her mother a moment to respond, merely nodding at the guards before jumping in the well. Although Risako was known for not using magic in combat, it seemed that she had something against magic in general. Although that wasn’t the case, Risako had always felt compelled to restrain from magic use as much as possible.

But Risako actually had a form of common sense, and quickly used a spell to make her landing safe and - for the most part - silent.

It was pitch black when the four of them made it to the bottom of the well. The surface they landed on was not the dirt or stone ground, but a wooden surface. Minami clapped her hands and the torches lit up on both sides of the wall, revealing a linear passage. “Well, feel free to assess our defenses. I think it’s needless to remind you, but watch your steps.” Takiya said to Ambre as they moved on.

“The steps better watch me.” Ambre’s grin shimmered in the torchlight. She tested the wooden floor from her seat, tapping her shoe against it before jumping off. “Not rotten?” Ambre muttered to herself, then shrugged. “Show me what you’ve got.”

“Okay, you might want to get on that chair of yours.” Takiya said while they walked. It was a rather long pathway, and protection charms as well as traps were placed within every three meters. These are all Drakens-counterspells and crafts, and with just a slight touch will trigger them. They were placed in tricky positions, which makes them hard to avoid unless one is flexible enough to sneak through the small spaces between them. Of course, as for the three Kotonoha members, this is something they would be able to do with their eyes closed, so they have no problem navigating through the complex trap system on the pathway. Ambre, on the other hand, had to tip-toe into Takiya’s footsteps. The whole sanctuary is placed under a very strong barrier, left behind by Sakura the White Valkyrie herself, which makes it virtually indestructible even if it was bombarded with a nuclear bomb.

At the end of the path, there was a door, enchanted to let only the heads of the clan to walk through. Any others who touch it will immediately trigger the alarms and the whole trap system of the sanctuary will be activated against them. Takiya stepped forward and channeled some of his mana into the door, which opened it. And they stepped through the door, only to find another big, octagon-shaped chamber.

There was a door on each side of the room, and one might expect that only one of them is the correct way which leads to the Pillar. In fact, none of them are. Filled inside the rooms are guardian statues, magically crafted and armed with magical arms that can counter Drakens. The moment one tried to open one of the doors, the whole army of guardians will rain down against them.

Instead, the correct way to lead to the Pillar lies right underneath them. On the ground, there was a Dragon symbol - the insignia of the Kotonoha family. Hidden beneath the first and last crystal-shaped symbol on the circle above the Dragon are two ‘keyholes’. To open the final pathway, two weapons specifically crafted for the Kotonoha are needed. They must insert the hilt of the said weapons simultaneously into the ‘keyholes’, otherwise, the alarm will go off and all the efforts one had spent to make it all the way here will be wasted. Takiya and Minami did the job and insert the hilt of their swords into the ‘keyholes’. The ground then slowly shifted, revealing a spiral stairs leading not too far below.

And, they have made it to the Pillar, situated at the center of the last chamber. Asides from the three families who guarded the Pillars, no other magicians is aware that the Pillars are in fact the three Drakens who defected to human side back in the war of myth so long ago, given up their lives to shield our world from threats beyond our realm. In Kotonoha’s case, the Pillar is a statue of a giant eight-headed dragon, or more correctly, a petrified Yamata no Orochi. Around the chamber, there are also several giant guardian statues, armed in the same way as the ones in the former room, and surrounding the Pillar itself is another barrier. This one is another one left behind by Sakura before she passed on, and can only be dispelled using the magical sword she once wielded which is currently being kept in the Kotonoha’s weapon storage. And finally, the final challenge one must pass in order to touch the Pillar is to face Minami, the current most powerful Magic Knight in the world herself, who spends nearly all of her time guarding over it.

“And that should be the ins and outs of our defense system.” Takiya said to Ambre as he looked up to the petrified dragon. He could only imagine how magnificent this being can be when it is still living. “Any questions?”

“Seems pretty jumpy.” The Vermillion mage remarked, touching the walls of the Pillar’s chambre. Tiny sparkles of light trailed behind her fingertips, but in her eyes sparked various letters running from left to right over the lids. “Our ancestors sure liked to make thing complicated, but you know, the thickness of the above floor is… Thirty-five and a half centimeters!” Ambre pointed at the ceiling. “Magic can muffle the echo, but that’s obviously not a foundation.”

Turning away from the ceiling, the girl’s attention turned to the room’s default most ancient of guardians. “The stone soldiers look pretty scary, but because they’re not part of the building...” Ambre snapped her finger, causing letters to appear on the wrist of one of the statues. “You can throw off their aim, just like this. Little earth magic should do the trick too.”

Ambre threw her arms behind her head, her pupils following along the words written on her lens. “I mean I guess it’s pretty good, but you know, it´s a good thing I’m not scaly.” She smirked, tapping the floor once more.

“So what do you suggest?” Takiya asked, “If I remember correctly then this whole structure was not simply crafted from just rocks and stones. Sakura built it herself using some sorts of material I don’t really know of, but it certainly is much more durable than the usual types. I mean, I can cut through diamonds pretty easily, but I can’t do the same with anything inside this whole sanctuary.”

“I’m not saying I could break all of this in just a day’s time.” Ambre rolled her eyes. The letters on the statue vanished, though they still faintly reflected in her eyes. “- But the drakens breached two defences already. They barely scratched a thing in the house besides Elise’ pillar. No matter how good the fortification, it doesn’t buy us anything but time. There’s a few improvements sure, but what we need-” Ambre’s lips curled the cheshire cat’s, “-Is information.”

“Well, if we need information about these winged bastards, I think I know the exact person-” Takiya was abruptly cut from finishing his sentence by a familiar voice echoed down the chamber. It was Yukito.

“Minami-sama, Takiya-sama, the runes!” He sounded out of breath. “We have an intruder in the mansion! Everything is getting chaotic above!”

Takiya was visibly surprised at the statement, “How could this happen?” He said, then shook his head, “Doesn’t matter, if they are here, it could only mean one thing. Let’s go.”

“I will stay here. This is my post.” Minami said as she went and stood in front of the Pillar, having her sword unsheathed, “You three go and see what is going on.”

Takiya nodded to his mother as he and the two girls climbed back out of the Pillar’s chamber and the entrance shut behind them. However, Takiya stopped right when he has just walked past Yukito. Unexpectedly, he unsheathed his sword and slashed his apprentice, who merely managed to dodge by the skin of his teeth.

The white haired boy seemed shocked, “T-Takiya-sama? What are you doing?”

“You almost got me there.” He said, pointing the tip of the Masamune at the boy, “Who are you?”

“I am Yukito, of course!” The boy stammered, but his hand moved to the hilt of his own sword and he widened his stance, inching away from the others.

“I should have known I couldn’t afford that nap.” Ambre mumbled to herself, as she gestured to Takiya and Risako to make them aware of the boy’s movements. “What’s different about him?” She asked, “Who he is doesn’t matter, what he’s trying to do is.”

“Let’s just say that he is Yukito, and he is not. I simply know it. He’s my apprentice, after all.” Takiya said, “But one thing for sure, he’s not going to let us go up without a fight.”

Risako narrowed her eyes. ”Yes,” she mused. ”You can feel that it’s not him.” She cocked her head to the side, wearing her signature smile that got under almost everybody’s skin. ”I’d hate to sound rude, but are you visually impaired as well?” Before Risako could give the fake-Yukito a chance to respond, she slammed her fist into the side of his face. She refrained from recoiling from the surprising amount of pain. It definitely wasn’t a lot of pain, but Yukito’s cheekbone couldn’t hurt that much. Risako set her jaw, no longer oblivious. ”Draken.” she hissed.

“Jumping in the middle of a trap-riddled room?” Ambre wagged her finger. “This isn’t something as smart.” She pointed at Yukito’s cheek; a barrier had been raised to cover it. “Doesn’t that look a lot like what you used to land?” The Vermillion girl asked.

Yukito smirked, but his teeth were razor-sharp. He untied his blindfold and tossed it away, revealing his two usual closed eyes becoming menacingly red, “The lots of you are smarter than I thought..” He cackled, slowly unsheathing his sword. Crooked nails spawned from his finger-tips and bone horns grew from the sides of his head. “This body was Yukito’s, but now… It is mine. The little whelp is under my control. He still lives of course…” The possessed Yukito twisted his neck 90 degrees to look straight at Risako. “But I’m not so sure if that’s going to be the case if you actually land a punch like that.” He said in his demonic voice, before charging at Risako, readied to slash her.

“Over me first.” Takiya jumped in between them and block the attack of the possessed boy. They engaged in a locked stance. He felt overwhelmed a bit because Yukito is surprisingly stronger than he is normally. With an instance, he magically enhanced his arms as magic circuits appeared on them and pushed the boy back. This caused possessed Yukito to stumble a bit backwards, and without hesitating, Takiya sent several energy slashes from his sword towards the boy. He managed to dodged the few first ones, but the latter managed to hit as an explosion was caused from the collision.

Yet, the possessed Yukito still managed to raise a barrier in time to block them. “Damn it. He’s tough.” Takiya commented, “We need to surround him. I’ll get behind him. Try to draw his attention.” He said to the two girls.

“I think he means you.” Ambre tagged Risako in, taking a pair of sunglasses and a lighter out of her pocket and placing it in the magic knight’s hand. Words lit up on the two items and they warped into a makeshift knuckleduster around Risako’s hand. The soft plastic from the sunglasses protecting her hand, but coating of the lighter giving it a hard surface. The remaining materials crumbled and scattered on the ground.

Ambre took a few steps back, carefully threading the exact path back they’d taken towards the pillar chamber. “Takiya, the chair!” She shouted at the other Kotonoha-sibling, waving at him as if she were lost at sea.

While Ambre distracted the possessed Yukito, Risako analyzed the knuckleduster the blonde had magicked. She narrowed her eyes as she skimmed her gaze over Yukito. Sure, Risako wasn’t superhumanly strong under normal circumstances, but she could still land an extremely powerful punch. It wasn’t a matter of brute force, but rather precision, opportunity, form, timing, and hitting the point of weakness. If she struck when all the variables were perfect, Risako could take down the most powerful of opponents. It wasn’t easy, but it was a risk worth taking.

While they keep the white-haired boy busy, Takiya enhanced his legs and ran across him by his side at great speed. He made it to Ambre’s chair, which was still levitating a few feets above the floor, “Ambre.” He shouted to the Mage girl as he pushed the chair towards her direction, at the same speed as earlier.

“I don’t think so.” Yukito yelled, sending an energy wave towards Ambre’s midriff with a swing of his sword.

As if she were in a limbo-contest, Ambre threw herself backward. The attack sheared past her; taking a lingering lock of hair with it. The second right after, Ambre caught hold of the chair and let its momentum swing her across the room. Mid-air, the girl rattled a string of spells; enveloping the chair and travelling way up the rope to the foundation of the chamber itself. Like a snake that defied gravity, the rope slithered across the walls; building rails all across the room. Within mere seconds, the chamber was a swinging jungle of ropes!

Yukito’s eyes lit up like a crimson flare; sending one attack after another at the mage. “Queen of the jungle!” Ambre taunted and stuck out her tongue, as she jumped from one rope vine to another - but Yukito’s attacks were slashing through her construction one after another! Each subsequent swing of his sword seemed to be driving the girl into a corner, but when Ambre tagged the wall of the stone well right above where Sakura’s barrier ended; the bricks came loose! The stone collided with Yukito’s energy slashes and the rubble and dust from the clash rained down on Yukito. Squinting his eyes, the possessed apprentice narrowly avoided Ambre’s counter-attack - but in doing so his back was completely exposed to Risako!

Risako noticed the opportunity as soon as it revealed itself. She drew back her arm, slamming her fist in a particularly weak part of Yukito’s spine. The well-known pressure points were the typical temple, cranium, etc., etc. But although it wasn’t a very common pressure point, hitting a precise point in someone’s spine could cause serious damage.

Risako’s hit was near-perfect. Yukito crumpled to the ground, his vertebrae dislocated. Risako, despite the cheeky grin on her face, knew not to let her guard down. The injury might not seem as serious as it looked. If that was the case, the possessed Yukito could recover quite quickly. Losing this battle would be more consequential than ever.

“Step back.” Takiya dashed forward and stood in between Risako and the possessed Yukito. He approached the now seemingly unconscious possessed boy and knelt with one of his foot down, examining his apprentice. Suddenly, Yukito’s sword, which was disarmed from him due to Risako’s hit earlier, flew straight from right where it was laying towards Takiya’s face.

But right before it could hit his face just by mere inches, the sword suddenly halted and remained mid-air that way, as the possessed Yukito began to stir. Surprisingly, Takiya’s expression remained calm, as if he was expecting this to happen. As the boy sat up, he hung his face with a very unsettled expression, “No… it’s futile to resist… You cannot… disobey me…!” He said with his demonic voice, before screaming out loud, as blended in between the demonic tone was Yukito’s real voice.

“Yukito, are you still there?” Takiya asked, visibly that he was fully concerned. The boy collapsed again, “Ta… kiya… sama!”He panted hard and held himself back, as if he was struggling to fight the being that is possessing him. As he gazed up to Takiya, his face was half that of his normal state and half possessed. Though his words are still broken, he then tried to said in a hasty manner, “I… If… I die… I want you… to know that… I…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a powerful shockwave was sent from Yukito throughout the whole chamber. As Takiya was standing in close vicinity to him, he cannot evaded it, but he managed to conjure a barrier to shield himself just in time before the shockwave hit him. However, the impact was so strong that it sent him literally sliding a considerable distance backwards on his feet, once again widened the space between him and Yukito.

The white hair boy then stood up once more, this time his eyes had once again become menacingly crimson as it was earlier, as his appearance turned demonic again. “He sure puts up quite a fight.” The being that possessed Yukito spoke with its’ demonic voice through him, “But no matter how hard he, or any of you lowlifes try, it’s no use. The only way to kill me…” The being grinned in a mocking way, “...is to kill this boy.”

Risako bit her lip - hard - in order to refrain from voicing her rather harsh opinion on this matter. Her demeanor may not suggest it, but Risako thought logically rather than emotionally. A lot of magicians hated her for this; her cheeky nature combined with her strictly logical thinking made her seem extremely insensitive. Despite the respect Risako held for Yukito, due to her nonemotional thinking process, she would suggest for him to be killed.

Under normal circumstances, Risako would have absolutely no problem voicing this opinion of hers. But in the end, this was Takiya; he was her brother, whether she liked it or not. Risako had enough sense not to straight-up tell her elder brother to kill his apprentice.

But no matter how much Takiya might hate the idea of slaughtering Yukito’s body, he was going to have to accept that there wasn’t much room for choice in this situation. Risako was rarely clouded by affection for others, so she knew this better than anyone.

“Tsk.” Ambre scoffed. Still clinging onto the wall of the well, her voice echoed through the room below; “And it would tell us that, why?” The mage asked the knights. “His first intention was to lure us away from the pillar. Demons are a wizard-thing, which means-”

“Die!” The possessed Yukito roared and swung his blade in a half-moon motion; sending a huge wave of energy straight at Ambre, but she had climbed high enough to put Sakura’s barrier between herself and the attack. It scattered before it could even touch her.

“I told you, it’s not smart enough to be a Draken.” Ambre revelled in her earlier words as she laughed haughtily. Her glee echoed through the room, taunting and further angering the demon. “You two keep it down here. I’m sending a Rosa or Lukas to deal with this problem.” Ambre’s lips curled into an impish grin. “Unless I find this thing’s wizard first…”

“There’s no need to tell me. I’ve already known it. Just go and do what you need.” Takiya said to Ambre while she was leaving. He shot several energy slashes and draw the attention of the demon towards him and his sister.

And with that, the well’s walls expanded into a staircase Ambre ran up to; leaving the two siblings to fend off the enraged demon.

Watching as Ambre left the sanctuary to the above ground, the possessed Yukito cackled arrogantly, "How foolish. That brat really did give me a little bit fun. Now it's going to be easier to put you two helpless vermin down. Any last words?"

"Don't be so sure, you are the one who will go down." Takiya said, standing face-to-face with the demon next to his sister, pointing the tip of his blade towards the boy, "I acknowledge that you are a pain in the ass, indeed. Just show us whatever tricks you've got already. If you are that confident that defeating us is going to be easy, just do it. I've never really got a chance to work out much until now."

"Attitudes, eh? Fine then, as a generous person, I will grant you your wish." The demon cut Yukito's arm and draw some blood on the blade, then sprayed them on the ground. Several magic circles appeared and from them, some sorts of slime creatures were summoned. Both possessed Yukito and the slimes then began to circling around Takiya and Risako, surrounding them. The slimes than transformed themselves into the shape of Yukito, clearly as a mean to distract the two of them from the real body. Takiya entered his battle stance with his back turned against that of his sister's. "You ready?" He whispered to Risako. When he got the signal, both of them dashed forward and attacked the Yukitos simultaneously.

Takiya muttered a spell as he magically coated his sword with holy element aura, making it more effective in dealing with demons. Although the creatures were seemingly ahead of themselves, their arrogance was quickly stamped off as Takiya slashed through one of them like a hot knife that cut through butter, making quick work of the poor creature. As expected, the slimes weren't nearly as strong as the possessed Yukito.

The others were quick to counter, but apparently couldn't coordinate so well with each other, as their attacks were all over the place, and none of them manage to even pose a threat to Takiya, as he evaded them with little efforts. It seemed that slimes are indeed a bunch of stupid creature, after all, just like they said. He sheepishly thought as he kicked one of them down while slashing through another. Maybe the possessed demon is trying to sap them out of their energy by make them fighting worthless goons like this. But he'll see who will be the one to go down first.

After a while, Takiya had finished dealing with all the slimes on his side. None of them were the true Yukito, so it must be one of those that Risako was dealing with. When he was about to check on his sister, he heard a familiar screaming voice of someone who was coming down from the entrance of the sanctuary. Seconds later, Lukas appeared with a rather odd entrance, turning everyone's attention in the room towards him.

The demon, quickly sensing the danger that a Wizard might pose to him, quickly shifted from Risako and send several energy slashes towards Lukas instead. Takiya, who was standing near, was quick to act and shielded the guy. "It's about time. So what are we gonna do? Would you be able to exorcise him right away or we need to hold him down first?"

Yukito's eyes trailed after Amber as the blonde left the sanctuary. "How foolish," the possessed Yukito cackled arrogantly. "That brat really did give me a little bit fun. Now it's going to be easier to put you two helpless vermin down. Any last words?"

"Don't be so sure," Takiya answered back, pointing his blade towards the demon. "You are the one who will go down."

Risako cocked her head to the side, not dropping her battle stance. "You just jinxed yourself," she remarked. "You do know that in literally every movie or story, the one who says 'any last words?' always gets defeated right after, right?"

Takiya gave the demon no time to respond as he spoke once again. "I acknowledge that you are a pain in the ass, indeed. Just show us whatever tricks you've got already. If you are that confident that defeating us is going to be easy, just do it. I've never really got a chance to work out much until now."

"Attitudes, eh?" Yukito hissed. "Fine then, as a generous person, I will grant you your wish."

"We're honored," Risako retorted, her tone sarcastic as the possessed Yukito cut his arm and splashed the blood on the ground. Magical circles appeared as some...slime stuff was summoned. The slimes shifted into the shape of Yukito as both the demon and Yukito-slimes started circling the two Kotonoha siblings. The two entered their battle stances, the backs facing each other.

"You ready?" Takiya whispered to Risako. She gave him the signal, and the two ran forward simultaneously to attack Yukito and the slimes. It may not seem like it, given Risako's demeanor, but she understood order. It could be vital to winning a battle, and after all, she was a Magic Knight.

Although Risako mainly fought without weapons, she did carry a few on her at all times as a final resort. So if the slimes proved too much for Weaponless Risako, she wasn't completely helpless. On her side, one of the slimes charged at her, ahead of the pack. Calculating the distance between it - he? She? - and the other slimes, Risako had enough time to kill the first one with her bare hands. With the knife edge of her right hand, she struck the first slime's throat. Since she was at the exact angle that made it perfect for Risako to sever his windpipe, the slime went down, hard and fast. Damn, they're a lot more brittle than I thought they'd be, Risako mused to herself. She used the makeshift knuckleduster Ambre had fashioned her to strike the back of the next slime's neck, successfully breaking it simply with brute force and pressure points. The simpletons in the world always thought that the one with a weapon would be more powerful, more likely to win a fight, but that wasn't always the case. It was quite easy to kill someone with your bare hands, but no one bothered to learn anything about the best methods.

Finally, after taking down slimes by kicking them in the groin, stabbing them in the eyes, and hitting major arteries in their temples, Risako was left with one more. Takiya was finishing up with the slimes on this side, so she had to assume that this was the real, possessed Yukito.

"Come on, Gramps," Risako quipped. "Let's battle."

As much as Risako didn't like it, she knew that defeating a demon would be much, much easier with magic. Contrary to popular belief, she did have a magical arm of her own. She received it when she was fourteen, but she rarely ever used it. Technically, it consisted of two weapons - it was a dual-pair of katanas. Although Risako could use only one at a time if she wanted to, the power would be much stronger if she wielded the two swords simultaneously. Many had trouble with that, since they actually had a dominant hand, but Risako was fairly ambidextrous. It worked for her.

But there was a catch to her katanas; no two people could wield them at the same time. If Risako used one and Takiya used the other at the same time, there would be no magic. None. Zilch.

Of course, demon Yukito. Desperate times, desperate measures. Risako whipped out her swords and started attacking the white-haired boy.

She was out of practice. Sure, since she used a dual-pair of katanas all the time when sparring, her skill was impeccable, but Risako hadn't used magic in a long time. The battle mainly consisted of Risako blocking the energy blasts Yukito sent her way. Every magical arm had its own unique properties, and being a Kotonoha, Risako was wielding some of the most powerful in the world.

Risako was able to use her katanas to manipulate the magic of others if she wanted to, but it wasn't exactly a simple task. After all, magic wasn't a one-dimensional subject.

Before she could even try, Lukas came flying in atop a...mattress? "I'm here!" he cried out. Yukito stopped shooting energy blasts in Risako's direction and sent a couple energy slashed over to Lukas instead. Takiya quickly shielded the wizard.

"It's about time," Risako heard her brother remark. "So what are we gonna do? Would you be able to exorcise him right away or we need to hold him down first?"

While Takiya was speaking, Risako definitely didn't fail to notice Yukito preparing an energy blast. The action wasn't immediate; it was going to be stronger than the previous blasts. Suddenly, the white-haired boy swung back to release the energy, and Risako jumped into action.

Really, all she needed was an extreme stroke of luck. The dark-haired Magic Knight swung her katanas, attempting to propel to impending energy blast toward the demon rather than the others. Yukito released the massive energy blast, the magic shooting over to Takiya and Lukas.

The energy blast abruptly changed course, slamming into Yukito instead. Risako refrained from heaving a sigh of relief and weariness - it worked, but it wasn't easy. She had to hold back from cheering right there. Sometimes, due to her constant refusal to use magic, Risako would just call herself a Knight instead of Magic Knight as a joke. But thank the stars, something magical actually worked for her.

Takiya took the prayer beads and the charm from Lukas and nodded. “Be careful. Don’t get yourself killed.”

Lukas and Risako nod in return, and Takiya turned away. He knew that despite his insecurities, the young wizard was not so incapable - he wouldn’t be here in the first place otherwise.

He faced the demon, who was taunting them, and raised his sword towards it. “Your petty arrogance is getting tiresome. Just give up already. If you think you can handle the three of us at once, you are clearly having a death wish.” Magic circuits then began to appear on his arms and legs, “Let’s finish this quick, shall we?”

Like a flash, Takiya dashed forwards towards the direction of the possessed Yukito. His speed surely has caught the demon by surprise, since he was holding back earlier. The demon was staggered a step back as it dodged Takiya’s slash by mere inches. Up until now, except for the first shockwave, its movement has been rather predictable, not so different from Yukito himself. It seemed that all that this demon did was to physically and magically enhanced Yukito’s body, instead of giving him some new abilities.

The two of them engaged in a deadlock as their swords clashed together. Takiya was considerably faster and using more hidden moves than earlier, which in turn caused the demon to actually struggle to keep up with him. After catching the possessed Yukito off balance with a slash, he suddenly switched places with Risako.

Risako’s katanas were now sheathed - she had gone back to the style of combat she was most comfortable with. It was lucky for her that she actually took the time to notice Yukito - she got the basics of how he fought. The demon was off-balance and startled by Takiya’s performance - the possessed Yukito relied too heavily on his arrogance. That was going to be his downfall.

The amber-eyed Magic Knight went immediately for the sword - the demon might be able to conjure up new weapons, but Risako was used to disarming her opponents first when she had the upper hand. She, like Takiya, was moving faster now that she was hiding few of her abilities. While Takiya was stronger than her, Risako was faster, overwhelming the demon with her hits. Every time the demon recuperated, before he could make another move, he was hit once again.

As I expected, sooner or later that he would deplete his energy. Takiya thought. From what he has observed, the demon has been fighting the four of them without a moment to rest or using any means to refill his mana pool since the beginning of the battle. Though it might have bestowed Yukito’s body with a considerable larger amount of mana, it has been using mostly a plethora of energy attacks at high intensity, which can only serve to run its’ pool dry. In other words, it wanted to finish them off as quickly as possible, but now, its’ intention failed miserably. This could only proved how cocky the demon was, believing it could simply take the best magicians of this era on by itself. Such foolish recklessness spelled certain doom to it the moment the fight began.

“Grrr. Why don’t you slugs just DIE already?!” The possessed Yukito screamed in anger. It struggled to even stand as it was sent sliding backwards by Risako’s chain of attacks, damage evident from the multiple hits it had sustained. Now disarmed, the demon desperately drew more blood from Yukito’s hands and tried to summon more slimes to aid it.

There were more clones of Yukito now than it is before. Knowing the state the demon is in, they should not be too much of a problem for them now. But this time, it shifted its’ attention to Lukas, as he seemed to be an easier target to take down in comparison with Takiya and Risako. While sending several of the slimes to surround the two Magic Knights, the possessed Yukito charged with the rest of the clones towards where Lukas was standing.

“Take care of Lukas and finish off the cronies. I’ll deal with Yukito.” Takiya said to his sister before swinging his sword and sent a powerful slash that made quick works of the slimes surrounding them. After sending Risako to fend for Lukas, he dashed forwards and got behind the back of the demon. Takiya slammed his sword on the ground and two energy blasts were conjured, as they travelled diagonally before abruptly changing their directions and run into each other right in front of the demon, prevented it from approaching Lukas and Risako any further.

Fortunately, the main threat was apprehended. Unfortunately, the lesser threats - which was the multiple amounts of slime - were free to merge towards their incoming target.

Lukas’s eyes widened at the incoming wave of slimes. Reaching into his pouch, he quickly pulled out a red cartridge. The bottom of his wand opened up, and Lukas deftly slotted it in like a gun magazine as the wand morphed into a sleek red handle, a smooth silver cylinder - a caricature of a gun.

The slimes were coming in now, homing like missiles towards Lukas. The wizard raised the gun up towards them. With his other hand, he pressed into the frame of his spectacles.

The spectacles flickered a faint green like a loading screen. Through the spectacles, everything suddenly became vivid - as if Lukas had just cleared a patch of dust from his lenses and was seeing the sky for the first time - and suddenly, the slimes gained markers. Just like virtual reality goggles, only in this case, things were very much real.

Lukas took aim and fired.

Small round balls that looked like bb bullets hit the slimes with deadly accuracy. A dark green glow emanated from where they’d been hit, and the slimes froze onto the spot with a shudder - creating an opening for Risako to slay. Aided by both instinct and the magic in his spectacles, Lukas continued to shoot like the protagonist of a shooting game as more slimes took the place of their fallen brothers, barely missing a shot.

Risako jerked the neck of a shuddering slime, shattering the windpipe. Neck snapping may seem a bit brutal, but it was quite effective. As Lukas shot slime after slime (where did he get that accuracy?), Risako slaughtered each one, only allowing a couple of them to not face her wrath.

The ones Lukas had shot but Risako had failed to get continued to shudder in place. As they shook, tremors convulsing their liquid bodies until finally, they burst into small green droplets that faded before they could even touch the ground.

-------

The demon got no choice but to shift its’ attention back to Takiya. Despite knowing that it had no chance of winning now, it still managed to put on a maniacal laugh, “Why are you fighting so hard for this brat, anyway? He’s only a worthless whelp. He isn’t capable of anything like you. He isn’t even a family member of yours. So why does it matter?!” The demon shouted as it summoned Yukito’s sword which Risako disarmed earlier, as the sword flew from where it laid to the boy’s hand.

Takiya didn’t say anything as he stood calmly, as he watched the demon pouring all the remaining energy it had left into the sword, before slamming it down on the ground like Takiya did earlier and sending an enormous blast towards Takiya.

“Hang on, Yukito. It will be over soon.” He muttered before raising his arm as a barrier of the same magnitude with the blast appeared. The two spells collided, and the impact they caused was strong enough to shake the whole foundation of the chamber itself. They were caught in a stalemate for a while, but in the end, Takiya’s barrier was stronger, as the blast exploded, sending a resounding shockwave back to the demon, causing it to be sent flying backwards.

With no hesitation, Takiya enhanced his legs and dashed with great speed towards the demon, as if he was teleporting from whence he stood earlier. While the demon was still mid-air, he hastily swung the prayer beads and let it wrapped around Yukito’s body. The beads tied him from his arms all the way down to his feet before he hit the ground with a thud. It seemed that the object was truly harmful to demons, after all, as it seemingly caused it to scream out and winch in pain. “Now!” Takiya shouted to Lukas before jumping backwards a considerable distance away, leaving room for the wizard to do his job.

“Got it!” Lukas fired one last shot at a slime that was about to creep behind Risako before reaching under his sleeve. Amidst all the charms he was already wearing was a bracelet that was an exact miniature replica of the prayer beads that surrounded the possessed Yukito. Pulling it off his wrist, Lukas cupped it in both hands in the posture of a prayer and began to chant.

The exorcism had begun.

The beads wrapped around Yukito glowed the exact time the bracelet did, a soft white glow that chased away the darkness, the color of disinfectant. The demon screamed and began to struggle, writhing in pain as the beads began to tighten around its body. It clawed desperately at the beads, but when the line held strong it renewed its struggle, thrashing about in an attempt to get free.

“Curse you!” Spittle flew from Yukito’s lips as the demon spat out curses in a stream of unspeakable words, rage with the intent to destroy. But with every cuss it shot out, the demon’s true face began to show, an overlay of inhumanity that lay over Yukito’s snarling face. Slowly but surely, the demon was being forced out of Yukito’s body by the exorcism.

In the background, protected from the slimes by Risako, Lukas’s voice gained a harmonic lilt as he continued the chant, determined and steady despite the chaos happening around him.

It was like seeing a 3D hologram come to life while a person was standing inside it. Yukito lay still wrapped in the beads, held aloft by their weight alone. The demon, echo turned real, writhed in pain where the beads touched him. The beads grew impossibly tighter, wrapping around Yukito like a metallic boa constrictor, but the demon was the only one who felt the pain - it gasped and choked, attempted to flee - but where the beads caressed Yukito it chained the demon to the earth, a cage for its destruction.

In the background, heard over the noise despite its calmness, Lukas continued the chant. He raised the bracelet, giving it a sharp twist as he began to sing more than chant.

The beads glow intensified, a blinding white light that spread light into the room and destroyed the darkness. The demon - and the shape was visible now, face and body overlapping with Yukito’s like a semi-transparent coating - opened its mouth one last time in a wordless scream, a chilling howl filled with anger of being cheated from victory, the pain and terror that came with being destroyed. The sound reverberated throughout the room, a harsh mix of two voices screaming - the demon and Yukito’s. As the howl went on, the sound gained discord - the voices began to separate, pulled apart like taffy in the face of Lukas’s determined chanting. A mix became a harmony became a disjointed duet, and soon, only the demon was the one howling in pain - and that too began to fade, alongside the demon’s body.

By the time Lukas ended the chant, it had gone silent, and Yukito was the only one left wrapped in the prayer beads.

The exorcism was over. The demon had been successfully banished.

After the demon possessing Yukito had been expelled from his body, the white hair boy laid where he was struck, motionlessly. "Yukito!" Takiya called out hastily as he dashed forward towards his apprentice, unwrapping him off the prayer bead and held the younger boy up in his arm. His breath was weakened, but fortunately, his heart was still beating. His eyes, demonically reddened only a while ago, are now back to their primitive state. Yukito then stirred and mumbled weakly, "T...Takiya-sama... is that... you?"

Takiya smiled lightly and brushed some of Yukito's stranded hair away, "Yes, it's over now. Just rest."

As if a sense of relief and assurance had just washed over him, Yukito's consciousness left him completely as he nudged over Takiya's shirt. Holding the boy up in his arms, he stood up and turned to Risako and Lukas, "Let's get outta here. I have a feeling our estate has already been wrecked into a ruin up there already. But don't let your guard down yet." With that said, the three of them made their way out of the sanctuary. For now, the Pillar will be safe, as Minami can take care of any other intruders should they have the guts to face her head on.

And as Takiya expected, the scenery outside the well is a complete mess. Every corner of the estate was reduced to ruin. One good thing though, is that there seemed to be no more monsters wandering about, as the guards have apparently dispersed of them for now. However, most of them are all worn out and wounded, as the few lucky unscathed ones are trying to clean up the mess that the attackers left behind and tend for the less lucky ones.

So, the Vermillions and the Isharians are also like this when they were under attack... Takiya thought and sighed. Never had he thought they would be struck with such severe casualty like this. All of the security tasked with the duty of supervising the estate are of the top elites, yet there are those who have died for their causes. This could only proved how much the odds are against them in the upcoming days, not to mention that the Drakens are even yet to step into play. They need to step up their games now, or everything they are trying to fight for is lost.

"Takiya-san." Shinoda and Tetsuo called over to Takiya as they approached him. They too didn't look very bright after what had happened, but at least they are still alive.

"Glad to see you two didn't end up in body bags." He nodded to them, "How's thing?"

"It seemed that the situation was much worse than we anticipated, but luckily the body count is kept at the lowest possible. I think we have warded them off for now, but I have no ideas when will they strike again. Hopefully we'll be more ready when that happen."

"What's done is done, we'll see if we can rejuvenate the situation before we face another storm." Takiya remarked, "Let's focusing on cleaning things up and heal our wounds for now. Get me a medic." He then carried Yukito into the nearest room that hadn't been destroyed yet


It was the third time those two trying to corner me up and tried to beat me to a pulp already. I don't know what exactly that had happened. All that I've ever seen in my life is darkness. Yet, this time, I don't know why, but I felt as if a hidden strength within me had told me to fight back, to live on even though I have no directions to aim for, and to no longer running. And before I could even notice, I have taken them down.

"Hey boy, nice putting these two scoundrels down. You okay?"

Another man approached me, and I have no idea who he is, or how he looked like. But I can faintly felt that he is extending his arm, offered to lift me up. Unlike the two I beaten down, this person exerted no ill intentions towards me, but he is much, much stronger than them, and at the same time intimidating. I felt like if he wanted to kill me, then he would be able to do it in mere seconds. That was enough to send chills through my back, as shook my head violently and curled into a ball.

"Hey, no worries. I'm not going to harm you or anything. Tell me your name?"

"... I... don't know... For as long as I know... I have been wandering on these streets..."

"You're visually impaired, yet you managed to survive that long by relying on your other senses alone, completely unaided. That, I must say, is simply remarkable. I don't think I could have been able to pull that off if I were you."

Although the man is still quite intimidating, at the same time, his words also felt so... tender and genuinely caring. Never in my life have someone treated me that way. And somehow, strange feelings I have never had before filled my heart.

"Thank... you...?"

"Say, I think if you are trained enough, you will be very strong one day. I certainly can use a hand like you around my place." He extended his arm once again towards me, "So what do you say? Will you come with me and be my apprentice?"

Those words for me were like a lifesaver, and I certainly would be a fool to pass such an offer. But somewhere in my heart, I think I accepted it simply because that I wanted to know more about this man, and to be closer to him. So, like someone who was offered a rescued hand after having drifting on the ocean for ages, I reached out my own hand to him.

"Yes."

"That's good. My name is Takiya, I came from the Kotonoha household." The man called Takiya helped me to stand up, as he patted my shoulder, "You have beautiful white hair like snow, and since you don't know your name, from now on I will call you 'Yukito', how does that sound?"

I don't think I have ever smiled so happily in my life before, as I was quick to accept my new given name. I must looked really silly back then, but I don't think I care, as I know for sure that... I was saved.


Everything slowly went back into order as two days slowly passed by after the attack of the monsters on the Kotonoha estate. As far as things are concerned, no Drakens were involved in this attack, but the monsters surely must have taken orders from someone. The explanations are still on Lukas and Kallen, who have been researching the magic circle that Takiya found, though after their encounter with the dullahan demon, both Kallen and Ambre have been shaken up quite a bit, and Kallen have been outcold ever since. One good thing though is the wrecked Kotonoha estate is now restored with the help of Ambre and the guards, and those who survived the attack are now healed and revitalized, prepared for any further movements from the invaders. Those who unfortunately given up their lives have also been given proper burial.

On other news, Rosa somehow had disappeared during the whole ordeal and was nowhere to be found. The search for her had been going on for the past two days, yet there were no positive results so far. The Isharian household on the other side of the world was quick to be informed by this and they have promised to send another one of their wizards as a temporal replacement for Rosa until she is found.

They were all shaken up by what had happened, but they all know the risks, and they needed to be vigilant still.

Yukito began to stir as the sunshine peaked through the curtain of the room he was lying in. "Morning, sleepy head. How do you feel?" Takiya, who was sitting next to the futon he laid on, asked with a light smile.

"Takiya-sama?" He abruptly sat up when he heard the familiar voice, then turned his face away while blushing a little, "I... I'm fine. Better than ever, I suppose."

"You've been out cold for two days already, you know." Takiya filliped on Yukito's forehead, which caused the boy to let out an 'Ow' why rubbing the place where he was hit, "Just how careless you are to allow yourself to be possessed like that?"

"I... I'm sorry. Everything was in such a ruse back then..." He gripped the blanket, feeling guilty for having caused trouble for his master. But then, he was taken aback when Takiya ruffle his hair, "Just kidding. I was worried, you know. Be sure to watch your back next time." He said with a smile.

Yukito's face scrunched up as if he wanted to cry, and then without restraining himself, turned to Takiya and hugged him, buried his face into his well-toned abs. "H-Hey, what's wrong?"

"I swear... I'll never leave your side... Takiya-sama... I'll give up even my life for you..." The white hair boy mumbled between sobs, which left Takiya to blink in confusion, as he was left stunned by the sudden emotional outbreak of his apprentice. But he just let Yukito to hug him anyway.

"Yeah, I know. You're important to me too, so don't come dying." Takiya ruffled the boy's hair like a mother comforting her child and smiled.