• This section is for roleplays only.
    ALL interest checks/recruiting threads must go in the Recruit Here section.

    Please remember to credit artists when using works not your own.

Fandom [Private] Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine - New World

Fume

Fume

The wanderer
Since the incident that occurred centuries ago, the world was plunged into a post apocalyptic state, where demons and angels roam the land. The legends and myths, resurfaced in order to take the land for their own side, angels and demons tempting humans to join their side, fighting each other and spilling blood onto the chaos.

Law and Chaos, two opposing forces always trying to tip the balance that has been established from bygone days.

Humanity has been pushed back, but their spirit still burns with the thoughts of the older days and humans are not beings to easily die off. They overcome the challenge in front of them, they observe their surroundings and they find a way of thinking much unorthodox than most.

While their knowledge and craft had vastly improved, their chances to return to a peaceful era are diminishing, but their hope still stands, some more strongly than others.
 
Valerie turned to her twin and said twin gave her a blank look as they both stood at the gates of the building in front of them. Valerie spun to face the building with a wary look while her sister straightened up and eyed the building with confidence in her eyes. Its tall stature intimidated the girls and the gates evoked apprehensive behavior from both females. Surrounding students grumbled and pushed pass the girls until Aurora gave a shaky smile to Valerie and held her hand.

“It’ll be ok Valerie, no matter what happens, I’ll be there to help you. We promised momma and papa that too and they expect Vivienne to learn from our example. It’s just school, how bad can it really be?” Dropping Valerie’s hand, Aurora continued to walk to the school and pass the gates with Valerie instinctively following her.

Valerie walked along Aurora with glazed navy eyes and a part of her was jealous of how fast her twin was at taking things in. In spite of her jealousy, something about The Academy spooked her and Aurora was not picking it up; she snapped out of it as Aurora waved her hand in front of her face. Grabbing it, Valerie raised a brow, “Yes?”

Aurora huffed, a lock of her blonde bangs flying up, “I asked you if you were going to be making friends but I guess with that attitude, that is a strong no” Valerie frowned instantly, feeling Aurora’s hurt.

“I’ll be fine” Valerie whispered, “Friends or no friends, we have to pass the academy’s standards, it’s what mother and father expects of us and they will receive it.”

With that said, the twins walked into the building and into the gym where the headmaster would greet them along with the rest of the new students at the Academy.
 
Lento​

"Iten Lento. Proceed to room 3A." A robotic voice called him.

The young academy student got up from his chair in the waiting room and walked towards the right, where a hologram of an arrow flashed over holographic letters that read 'room 3A through 3C'. Today was the day Lento would not only receive the result of his allegiance compatibility, but he would also get his first demon. He had grown in a family of medics, where his mother had taught him not only how to save lives, but also be always righteous. In fact, he had never hoped to be deemed worthy of entering the Academy six years ago. The most he aspired to was to become a medic himself and only dream of the adventurous life that Demon Busters held and from which he could only catch bits and pieces of the retelling of their adventures.

Yet here he was, walking with confidence to the room 3A despite the dirty looks some of the children of Home Leaders or Unit Supervisors gave him. There would not be anything stopping him now, he would get chosen by the Law allegiance and start his seventh year in the Academy. He would make his family and himself proud someday, once he reached the dreams of adventure he only could picture in his imagination before. Lento pushed the heavy metal door and was greeted by his Demonology professor, Mrs. Nanako Okomiya. The woman was in her fourties, with her black hair dyed with a light auburn on its tips and combed back in a ponytail. She wore glasses and a bullet scar that crossed her cheek often made the rumours of her previous job as a member of the mysterious Intelligence Branch hold some weight to it.

"Good afternoon, Iten." she greeted him with her quiet and stern voice.

"Good afternoon, ma'am."

He had no idea how to read the thoughts that hid behind her dark brown eyes as they swept across the report of his results. Deep down, her silence was making him nervous. Once she finished, she closed the file and looked at him. "Tell me, Iten, what allegiance do you think you have proven to be worthy of?"

"The Law allegiance, Mrs. Okomiya."

Her eyebrows raised with curiosity, but she nodded, promptly hiding any hint of emotion from him. "Law allegiance, you say. May I know why that is your preferred allegiance?"

Lento remained silent for half a minute, feeling that every beep of the electronic clock rang louder and louder in his head, echoing to the prelude of a broken dream. He clenched his fists over the black uniform pants he was wearing and took a deep breath. "Because I have always thrived to do the right thing, no matter what. If anyone needs help or to be stopped from hurting others, I always want to be the one who acts first and justly."

Nanako Okomiya nodded. "Well, you are indeed a hard-worker in my class, quite the profile of other Law demon busters I have formed. However, your innate allegiance lies elsewhere. The Chaos allegiance to be precise."

"How can that be?"

The woman shrugged. "Maybe it's that same drive that is showing up more in your test, but you are innately talented to make contracts with Chaos demons. I do see your potential as a demon buster under the Law allegiance, so I can leave that choice open for you. Now, what demon you will fancy is another matter."

His fists clenched even tighter. "It'll be the weaker ones, given it is not my innate ability."

"Exactly. You might even struggle to keep some Law demons by your side."

Lento took a deep breath and relaxed his hands. "Even if that's the case, I do not wish to be a demon buster that uses the most unpredictable kind of demons out there. I will choose Law as my sole allegiance."

The Instructor smiled enigmatically. "You do have a valid point. Ver well, Lento Iten. Follow me and we'll discover just what Law demon agrees to form a contract with you."

-----​
He returned to his class where everyone was talking excitedly about the new demons they had gotten. As it was expected, most of those who were part of the highest elite bragged to each other about their level ten to fifteen demons. One of them, seeing him silently reading in the back of the class before the lecture began, approached him and slammed a hand on his desk.

"Hey, withering medic. What's your demon?", Kisuke Namikawa asked. His hair was dyed in an outrageous blonde that poorly matched his grey eyes. Let alone the grey and black uniform the students of their grade wore. For the self-proclaimed son of the 'most important unit supervisor', Namikawa held little of the discreet and deadly demeanour that was rumoured of the people of his level of responsibility.

"I bet it's some low-class chaos demon. Probably just a slime." Aoi Tsukane added with a mocking smile. The chestnut haired girl kept her hair and makeup so perfectly done there could be no doubt she wanted her status as a Supervisor's daughter to be known just by glancing at her. If she did not peep a word, she could even be an attractive quiet girl.

Lento looked them in the eye and got up, showing everyone once again that he was the tallest of the group by half a head and everyone knew that he was the best of their class in physical combat. "I got a Law demon. A Kodama."

Kisuke's cocky grin returned to his face. "Hey, that's really it? The teachers' pet only got a meaningless Kodama? How disappointing!"

"We'll see if you still say that two years from now, where all my demons will be caught up with yours in level. The higher the level, the slower you can rank them up, remember? Unless you wish to risk a possession, that is. That would make your family so proud, Namikawa. I have no doubt of it."

The blonde frowned while Aoi's smile soured. They both turned back to his place as the bell rang, marking the beginning of the Pharmacology class.
 
Last edited:
Dustin Summersdale​

Looking at the gates entrance, the older boy wanted to go inside and be as hard working as he was beforehand. However, his effort was completely wasted as it wasn't enough, his grades simply didn't increase no matter how much he put the effort on the subjects. But due to his circunstances, he had little hope of passing into the Academy.

Going inside with his current attire wasn't a good way to make a first impression either, since he looked more like a hoodlum than a student, even when he was in school he'd dress like a delinquent, which wasn't all that wrong at the time. Didn't help that he only entered that he was the oldest of the bunch for a good 3 years.

"I'm no psychic, but I'm damn sure that I didn't pass. I don't need a genius to tell me that." He turned the other way around, not daring to enter the Academy due to it's reputation for the best students to pass. He didn't belong to such elite students, nor did he saw himself like that either. They were the good guys, the best guys. He? Nothing more than a delinquent making trouble and start it too.

"Ugh... how am I gonna live now? The Academy was my best bet in order to have food in the table, and I don't have a license to use a COMP to fight the demons... What can I even do?" He thought to himself as he put his hands in his pockets and moved about in HOME III's bunker.

The only thing that he was good at was fighting and he can't even do that since it would mean getting a COMP in illegal means, which meant the death of another Demon Buster. He was no murderer nor wanted to do that, he just wanted to survive and probably save a couple of lives along the way.

"Gah! Screw that! If I can't use a COMP, then I'll have to do it by my own two hands! I'll just get some money by defeating the Pixie's outside of HOME III, they always need more hands to take them out. I wonder if my old man's machete is good enough to serve as a weapon, if not then the brass knuckles I bought at Hakamada's Weapon Shop." He grunted in frustration, if he wanted food then he'd god damn make it, license or not. It was more dangerous this way of thinking, but it was either that or a life of continuously hunger pains.

He walked towards his home, or what could be considered more of a shack. There, there was a mattress with a bed sheet, a messed up wooden desk with papers and damaged school supplies, a punching bag, some weighted gear and at the wooden wall displayed in an rack a rusty old machete, once used in the mountains, not fit to work as an effective weapon.

"...I'm borrowing this old man. I'll bring it back later." He whispered to himself as he left his shack, holstering the weapon on his waist to his left and making his way to the exit.
 
This is the day, the day he had been dreading for a while. Well, he dreaded every test he had to do, but this one seemed extra malicious. If he didn't display any affinity towards anything, he will be kicked out of the Academy. He can already feel the disappointment from his foster family, even though they won't outright say it to him.

"What a pain...it's not my fault if I'm not compatible."

Despite his meager results, the administrators say that he has potential...whatever that means. They never bother to tell him the details, and even if they did, it would probably fly in one ear and out the other.

He hears his name getting called, and he lazily strolls to Room 3C. Upon entering the room, he finds himself face-to-face with his least favorite professor.

"Kei Sephira," the professor of magic control drolls out. The tan-haired student grunts as a greeting.

"Just as responsive as ever. I hope you understand your situation here. Your family's connections can only get you so far, ungrateful brat."

Kei sighs as what little of his motivation drains away. "Let's just get this over with, professor."

"Affinity?"

"I don't really care."

"Indecisive," the teacher notes down. "Just like most Neutral people. Come on, let's go see what pitiful demon would want to make a contract with you. If you can even make one in the first place."
 
Phantom Ayelet
​
A blonde woman quickly makes her way behind the counter as soon as she entered the Weapons Shop. "Mr. Hakamada, what's on the to-do list today?"

The shop owner quickly turned to her, briefly interrupting a sale with a customer. "Maintenance and inventory of the guns. Then you're on appraisal duty Phantom."

Phantom salutes and she goes about the assigned tasks...of course, taking care of the guns first. After gathering the maintenance supplies, she sits and whistles as she goes about cleaning the guns for sale and inspects their condition then takes note of what they still had in the shop. When she's stuck with the guns, Phantom is at her most comfortable. They were her only semblance of her home before running to Home III.

And she hated doing appraisals. Oh little miss hot blonde, she doesn't know much. Phantom huffed at that thought and prayed that the shop would be quiet today to keep arguing with the customers to a minimum.

During the downtime, Mr. Hakamada would double-check Phantom's work idly. He has complimented her hand on guns on more than one occasion, knew she had plenty of experience with them. She would like to think that he trusted her on caring for the guns at least, and they never had a dull conversation about them...and it was the only conversation that Phantom can actually manage to make with him since he wasn't very talkative about anything else. When they ran out of things to say, silence would cradle the shop. Phantom would sit at one end of the counter, twirling a pen between her fingers, deep in thought until it was time for her leave for the day.

And that was the routine, the mind-numbing routine.
 
Dustin Summersdale​

As he approached the guard at the exits bunker, he stopped him in his tracks by putting himself in front of him. The guard had regular combat armor on, with an assault rifle on hand, in case some demon decided to try it's luck to get inside the bunker.

"Whoa there, where do you think you're going, Dust?" He asked as he was already notified about the delinquent that liked being called Dust.

"Outside, I heard that the Pixie's are causing some concerns again." He spoke as he was informed of the situation from a good source a while ago.

"While that might be true, I can't let a civilian go outside. Demon Busters only, that's the rules." Despite this civilian being armed, he didn't want to risk his safety.

"Come on, I need to get myself some macca for this months rent! If I don't, then I'll definitely will be sleeping outside for sure. Just let me handle this, it's the only thing that I know." He begged, trying to be as nice as he could.

"Sorry, no is no. Now get back inside, and let the people that can handle demons do their work." He dismissed him, as he didn't want the boy to just commit suicide. That was when he turned his back to head back to his post was when he regretted it, as his face was slammed hard on the wall, knocking him out cold.

"I wasn't one for these stupid rules anyway. Yo! We got a man down! Bring the pharmacist over here!" He yelled towards however was nearby as he ran outside. When he finally did, it looked like those six years hadn't changed one bit, except maybe for the ruins of buildings becoming more rubble. The sky was clouded, but the moon and sun were still visible thanks to their light.

"Right... now where are those Pixie's? I heard that they can drop some macca when you defeat them..." He thought to himself as he walked about, he heard that it was near the entrance, so he shouldn't be that far away.

He heard some noises in a nearby ruins, so he slowly made his way there, using the rubble to hide himself. What he saw was something he saw in the school as well. A band of Pixie's ganging up against a sole one, with what looked like the leaders behind them as the lackeys were hurting her left and right. She was crying while the rest were laughing towards her suffering.

Dustin kept himself in check, but when the flashbacks of him being the subject of that treatment in the beginning, his rage just burst like a bubble.

"You mother fuckers! He rushed ahead with his machete and slashed open the closest Pixie that was ganging up on the downed one. Still shocked about the new intruder two more got cut down, one diagonally the other losing both their legs before being stabbed in the chest for good measure.

"Come on, you dummies! Get him!" One of the leaders ordered making them lock their eyes onto the intruder. They started flocking towards him, kicking him, punching him and biting him where they could. He tanked them head on and then spun around in place with his machete taking out 5 Pixie's before throwing it towards one of the leaders, stabbing her in the stomach before falling onto her back.

"Quick! While he's disarm-!" One of them yelled before receiving a punch with brass knuckles on the face, falling fiercely onto the ground before being stopped.

"Who's next." He asked, despite his right fist having blood and his clothes being roughed up a bit, he had more than enough strength to keep going. He dashed forward and pounded the next Pixie, absolutely with no mercy.

The Pixie's ganged again on him, as he had to attack one Pixie at a time, spinning around only when three or more Pixie's were in his field of view. He was getting more and more damaged before he burst out of the gang and rushed towards the leader Pixie's. They put their hands up to protect themselves, but he ran past them, retrieved his rusty machete from their lifeless friend and turned around with a bloodthirsty look.

Their spines drew a cold sweat before running away and ordering them to run as well. As if a new demon appeared and was now targeting them for the sport, leaving behind the downed Pixie from the beginning.

"Tch, bunch of cowards." Dust mumbled before looking at himself, he was rather roughed up, his arms were bleeding from the scratches and bites from the Pixies, but nothing like a band aid to fix the problem, if he had one that is. He went over to the Pixie on the floor, she had bruises everywhere, with some black stains here and there. She was crying from the pain and from her impending death from the hands of this monster of a demon.

"Oi, you aren't out cold yet are you? Can you even understand me?" He asked as he took a look at the bodies of the Pixie's that he killed. He found some Macca, some Magnetite, a strange blade that he didn't know, a band aid and a magic stone. He then noticed that his machete was chipped and had a crack that went from the tip to the edge of the blade. "God damn it... Now I have to repair it. Guess this isn't so surprising since you were already rusty."

"A- A-are y-y-you..." She tried to speak, but she was feeling too much pain to even speak correctly with all her stuttering. He looked at her and the magic stone that he just found, he thought about selling the thing to get some more cash, even if it wasn't much.

"Damn it! Here take this so that I can actually hear you." He said as he hovered the purple marble looking stone to the demon, since it held magic to both heal and replenish their focus. She was apprehensive, but shakily took it before consuming it. Her wounds slowly started to heal, her black stains were gone, but she was still bruised up. "There, now you can actually speak well, I hope."

"W-why?" She asked, not understanding why this human just did what he did. She was down, she was helpless, but he appeared, killed her former friends and then gave her something to heal. He turned around and continued to loot their corpses.

"I didn't liked what they were doing to you. That's more than enough reason for me." He responded while continuing to loot their corpses, getting around 60 Macca and 37 Magnetite so far. The Pixie that he rescued didn't really know what to say, she just looked at him before looking away shyly.

"You're actually a good guy... aren't you?" She mumbled loud enough for him to hear. Despite his looks and his way of speaking, he was played off as a bad guy, but now? This demon can actually see that he's not bad.

"Good guy? Haven't heard that in a while now. Most people just straight up say that I'm a bad person, which they aren't wrong. You gotta do, what you gotta do to survive, but ditching and digging the weak's grave ain't one of the reasons to just do that." He stood up, straightening his back before putting the new blade on his back while his machete was holstered on his hip. "Well, the Pixie's are gone for today, so I guess that's that. I'm heading to Hakamada to appraise this." He lazily spoke before starting to stroll back into the bunker.

"U-um! C-could I... Go with you?" She asked which made Dust slowly looking at her like just gave him a surprise.

"Uh, I don't think I can do that. I ain't a demon buster to accept a contract with demons. No COMP, see?" He put his left hand up, while pointing with his right hand to his wrist. "So, no can do."

"W-well I-I guess I can be okay if they come back..." She said a little frightened about the other Pixie's coming back.

"...Argh! Fine! Just get under my jacket and be quiet. If the people inside find out that I brought a demon inside the bunker I'm gonna be in serious trouble and you'll most likely either get imprisoned or executed." He said in a frustrated manner while unzipping his jacket. She was delighted before flying on his back and hugging him so that it only looked like he was winded. "The things I do because of my kindness..."

As he entered back into the bunker, he looked around to see if the guard was still there, nope, but a new one took his place.

"Looks like he's still in the infirmary... Good thing I brought this small rock with me." He thought to himself before throwing the rock towards a corner where the guard was watching, it hit the corner catching his attention.

While he was distracted, Dust passed by as quietly and as casual as he could, slipping past the entrance guard without getting caught.

"Good... Nobody knows. Now just to make my way to Hakamada..." He mumbled to himself as he walked ahead while trying to act cool.

"Whoa... So this is how it looks in the inside." The Pixie that was on his back commented with the surprise of a child, nearly giving him a heart attack.

"Pip down! You wanna get us caught?" He whispered as low as he could to warn her. He could feel her nodded her head as he tried to calm down and walking at a faster pace. All the while, the Pixie was solely trying to focus on his heart beat, which calmed down her fear and nervousness a bit.

When he entered the weapon shop, or Hakamada's gun range, he saw a blonde woman bored, looking at her nails to see if they were polished or not.

"You Hakamada's assistant? Can you take a look at my machete and tell me the damage on it? Oh, and appraise this strange blade that I found." He asked as he put both weapons onto the counter.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Valerie tried, really she did, but she could not stop the yawn that escaped her and hissed as Aurora jabbed her in the stomach with her elbow. Aurora’s light blue eyes glared at Valerie and Valerie straightened her clothes and back while wiping the tear that had manifested from the yawn. Her eyes focused on the headmaster but trailed slowly at his monotonous voice.

“Welcome to ‘The Academy’! During your time in this environment, you will be trained to become Demon Busters. You will be heavily evaluated in your academics and durability. Those who can not handle the pressure will be sent back to their Homes immediately to be re-evaluated. You are dismissed.”

Aurora’s eyes shone with determination while Valerie’s face darkened at the word ‘academics’. She glanced over to Aurora only to see light blue eyes that held nothing but admiration for ‘The Academy’ and the headmaster that was in charge of it all. She placed a smile on her face as Aurora faced her.

“I can’t believe I, no, WE made it sis! Pinch me am I dreaming?” Valerie chuckled at her sister’s enthusiasm but her laughter came to a halt as she felt the sharp stares of some students shuffling out of the gymnasium. She roughly patted Aurora’s shoulder, snapping her out of her dreamy state, and waved her arm out to the exit while bowing, “Please milady, not interrupting here but we MUST exit.”

Scrambling forward, Aurora and Valerie’s walk to the exit was silent and the closer they got the exit, the more nervous both of them got especially since this year, they would be in different classes with lunch being their only time that was aligned. Pausing at the edge of the exit, Aurora held out a clenched fist to Valerie.

“Good luck sis, don’t slack off.”

Valerie blinked at the fist in front of her but gently tapped it with her own closed fist and smiled at Aurora.

“Of course not sister, do your best and be careful.” Aurora scoffed and walked away, “I’m always careful.”

Valerie could only chuckle and walked off in the opposite direction to where her first class took place.
 
Phantom straightened her posture when the man approached her counter, and then scowled at the rudeness. "Yeah and a please would help," She answered as she picked up the broken machete and examined it. Then she grimaced and gave a little hiss. "This thing has seen way better days," She said as she twirled the blade about, "The damage is pretty bad but it's not the end of it surprisingly. I mean, it'll take a long while to get it back to its glory days but, it's up to you."

She put the machete aside and then examined the new blade. Her eyebrow raised as her hazel eyes took all the information in, then she stared at the man and glanced over him before smirking and tapping underneath his chin with the tip of the blade playfully. "And you have a pretty good find. This blade has seen a lot, but it packs a very nice punch." She put the blade down. "Now, that'll be 40 macca for that appraisal. If you want to follow through with repairing that machete, that'll cost a pretty penny."

Fume Fume
 
"Fffffffuuuuck..." He dragged his word out as he knew that it was a bad idea bringing his rusty machete from his old man. "God damn it... I knew I shouldn't have brought it with me demon hunting, guess I'll keep it as it is, since I don't have a pretty penny for the thing." He reached in his pocket and brought out 50 macca. "Bleh, might as well give you an extra 10 macca for the service. I guess I'll try to get my COMP some other way." He said before the Pixie hugging on his back shuffled a bit, making him panic a bit.

"Hey..! Don't move so much. You want to get us caught in a Weapon Shop?" He quietly spoke while turning away as the clerk was counting the money.

"S-sorry! I was slipping down." The Pixie spoke up as she hugged a bit tighter, to make sure she wouldn't fall.

He returned his look at the assistant and then to the new blade. He rose it in the air to have a feel of it and it wasn't as heavy as he thought it'd be before hoistering it on his hip, it fit almost like a glove.

He thought to himself how to make money fast in order to get a COMP of his own, searching in his memory about any info to increase his funds. Then it dawned him, there WAS a way to make a quick buck, but that would mean that he needed to go in a raid, more specific a weapon raid.

There would be a truck with supplies coming here tomorrow by dawn, but they'll be stationed in the camp up north from here to rest from their journey from Shinjuku Babel. Taking a few weapons and then selling them back here would be a big mistake, that is if hey wasn't caught. If he was, then he'd have to sell them through illegal means. But the problems is, if he had to make a quick getaway, then he would need to use the guns and he wasn't good with them. Then it struck him as his eyes slowly got big and a mischievous grin formed in his lips, before disapearing to appear calmer.

"Yo, I got a question for you. How would you like to earn a quick buck?"

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Akemi
​
Doing the monthly audit of the security systems of Home 3 was never a short task. Specially because how bold some inhabitants of the slums could be, refusing to simply live their lives with their monthly allowance of Macca. The Organization always made sure they could have some shelter and food, but some found more valuable to risk their lives trying to sneak in illegal objects or even forming a black market of forged COMPs or medic licenses. Each time a seller was permanently dealt with, another one would try it again, but Akemi had been looking at the historical data of the Home and was glad to see that, since she had become part of her current unit, those criminals had stopped sticking their necks out that often. Hopefully, in the next decade, the Black Markets would be a thing of the past.

That would please the Dictator. Even without that, order within the Home was the only guarantee for the survivor's safety.

An alarm appeared on her COMP. It came from one of the guards at the gate. She immediately took the call. "What is the emergency, Mr. Yamishiro?"

The man groaned in pain before replying with a tired voice. "A punk from the slums...Dust...knocked me out and took my authorization card to get out into the Pixie fields. Area 1, section C to be precise."

"Dust..." she repeated as she opened another holographic screen to look through the records of all the men below their thirties who also happened to be Gaijin. No Japanese would ever name their child that way nor accept such a nickname, but there was a chance some low-life punk thought it was clever to be called Dust. Actually, some black market merchants took silly nicknames. "Describe him."

"Black short hair, auburn eyes...pretty sure he was tall as all hell. About 180cm. Ugh...this is all I have Mrs. Ōhashi, I hope it was enough."

"Thank you for calling me. Stay and heal in the infirmary, I will take care of this matter." she concluded before cutting the call.

She opened Dustin Summerdale's record and took a good look at it. The gaijin was a survivor of Home 2 and only lived with the allowance given to him by the Organization. Out of all the jobs the people of his rank could do, he had only briefly attended the Academy. And when that had failed, he piled up a list of small crimes that barely got him any time out of jail. He had no ties to the black market and neither did his parents. So far, Dustin had gotten away with a life of blissful ignorace, but those days of bliss would be no more.

Akemi localized the area Dustin was currently in. A weapon's shop. He had probably looted something out there. It was only obvious that he had gotten an Unknown Sword in the area he had ventured in. The woman opened all the view of the micro cameras and detectors around the place. She frowned at the strange amounts of surgery traces in the woman's body and it only took a quick glance to know that the blonde woman was in fact a man with too much time and money in his hands.

She enhanced the image of Dustin. A detector picked something strange in his jacket. Something with wings that was moving...Akemi's eyes widened for a brief second before she used the historical location data of the stolen device Dustin carried. Because it was connected to the alert systems on the walls of Home 3, it was not hard to recreate a vague image of how that moving thing had found its way in Dustin's possession. It was a Pixie.

She closed all of the holographic windows she had opened and contacted a single line. She would use her very best men to subdue that man and bring him to her.

-----
​
A group of armoured members of the Special Unit S040 made their way into the weapon's shop. All exits closed as they surrounded the place inside and out. The walls where the inventory of weapons were moved back and sealed themselves with a maximum security code so not even the owner could open it without Mrs. Ōhashi's direct permission. The leader of the group took a step further from the rest of his team. He put his assault rifle behind, but kept a hand over his Balmung.

"Dustin Summersdale. You are under arrest for violating the primordial security laws of Home 3. Our chief has left us a choice for you. You either come with us calmly, without the slightest resistance, or you die by my hands the moment you even think of attacking me or my men."

The dozen men behind him undid the safety of their weapons and pointed them at Dustin. "It would do the shop owners a great favour if you decided fast and did not disturb their business any further." he looked at Phantom and nodded. "I hope you understand I am only doing my duty and I ask you that you cooperate fully."

Fume Fume Phant0m Phant0m
 
Last edited:
Dustin Summersdale​

"Shit..." He cursed under his breath, he didn't expect the Special Law Unit to come for him. Normaly, it would only be a few guards to give him a pounding and a warning. The Special Law Unit are only used against heavy offenders and the special occasion to make a point to the individual that committed a felony grand enough to get their attention, which meant he was the latter part.

He looked at the guards, each one heavily armored from their head to toes, assault rifles already cocked with a bullet with safety off, all sights aiming at him. All exits were closed, most likely, chances of survival were below 1%.

Thinking it carefully for a straight minute, Dust ultimately thought over many plans of escape, all of them including either his death, the hidden Pixie and some unfortunate soul. He got irritated, not with them but with himself to even get this sloppy.

He took out his sword, all soldiers becoming tense, their trigger finger were itching to let loose as they still waited for him to show even the slightest amount of hostility. He looked at his weapon, then back at them. Slowly, he bent his knees and put both the sword and his brass knuckles.

"If you really want to stay alive, DON'T make a sound. They will kill you the moment you are revealed, so stay quiet." He whispered as he put his hand over his mouth to mimic a pensive state. The Pixie, understood despite being mortified that her end might be closer than before.

Dustin stood up, hands up before kicking his weapons towards the guy, which he assumed was the leader since he gave the warning and stood still.

"Guess I should've been more careful with my actions, I'll come quietly." He replied back to them as he turned around to talk with the assistant. "Sorry girl, guess the offer is off."
 
Phantom had opened her mouth to accept the offer, eyes filling with an excited gleam. Now she clicked her mouth closed, but that excited gleam hasn't left those eyes, even at Dust's surrender and she waved off his apology.

"Oh yes, your divine duty to keep everyone in line and uniform," She said to the leader in mock empathy, "I can't fault you for only being a puppet after all." She perched herself on top of the counter and slowly jumped down. She looked at all the rifles, some aiming at her as she moved. "I'm not going to cooperate fully, so what are you going to do about that Mr. Hotshot?"
 
Akemi​


She shook her head at the scene she was watching going down in the shop. Unit S040 was waiting for her orders and she would deliver one to them.

"Mr. Nagano, use the tranquilizer in your hand gun. I'm not taking any chances. Aim in two places, right below his ribs and near his heart. You must make both the demon and him fall completely asleep."

"Roger that." the leader, Kei Nagano, replied as he took out the required weapon and shot right where Akemi had ordered him to, completely ignoring what the shopkeeper had said to him. The effect was almost immediate and once Dustin fell unconscious, the man next to him took out a special cage to keep the pixie prisoner within. Nagano took the weapons Dustin had with him, then turned his attention to the shopkeeper. Kei Nagano only had to move one a finger for another of his men to restrain him as another two took care of Dust and carried him away as the door unlocked for them. Once Dust was being transported away, Kei Nagano ordered his man to release the shopkeeper. He looked at him for a couple of seconds with an implacably cold gaze.

"I was not ordered to waste ammo on you, Mr. Phantom Ayelet. You may resume your business as usual. My superior will compensate you and Mr. Juichiro Hakamada with macca for this unfortunate interruption."

Phant0m Phant0m

-----
​
She sat in front of a barrier of special security glass that delimited the closed cell one of her former units had taken Dustin Summersdale in. The room in front of her was spacious enough to only allow her prisoner to lie down and do two steps in any direction before meeting concrete walls that were ten centimetres thick. She had the pixie sleeping in her cage on her lap and she watched as Dustin slowly woke up in front of her.

"Quite the strange pet you brought here, Mr. Dust Summersdale. I'll keep her while we have a nice chat. Then, well, what happens will depend on you."

She tapped a combination on the top of the cage and a cloud of gas covered the pixie who was slowly waking up. Once it was gone, the pixie was sleeping soundly again.

"It's strange to me that a survivor of Home 2 would ever want to bring danger into another refuge. Tell me about your day, if you please."

Fume Fume

*****
Lento
​
His class was in the middle of shooting practice when an alarm sounded. It was an announcement from the Intelligence Branch. The class was put into a halt and all the student's gazes focused on the screens where the images of The Great Cataclysm took over Home 2. A computerized narrator began talking over the historical recreation of what the catastrophe was like.

"Seventeen years ago, the Second Refuge was taken by God's hand. It set to render us vulnerable to the demons until humanity as a whole was only part of history."

Images of demons rampaging inside the torn corridors of Home 2 followed, preying on defenceless men, women and even children. Lento's stomach churned at the savagery and he even heard some of his classmates gasp in horror at what was happening on-screen.

"Our walls were breached from within. Andrei Ivanov, a foreigner, brought a demon into the refuge. To this day, it is unknown if this retired spy was acting under government orders or his own, but his actions triggered God's wrath against all Japanese and all other inhabitants of Home 2. But the Japanese Nation would not be defeated by foreign treachery."

The symbol of the Organization, waving proudly over a flag, slowly covered the images of carnage as the Special Task Force began appearing over it, shooting the invaders off and treating the wounded. The class began clapping to the sound of recorded applause and some even began cheering. Lento, despite having the poisonous blood of foreigners in his veins, began clapping too. It was something stronger than him, something that made him think, in the back of his mind, that the hatred he had received throughout his childhood was justified and even necessary. His father was a Gaijin. That made him a traitor.

"Our great Dictator and the Intelligence Branch swiftly acted to foil the plans of destruction of foreign powers. The Japanese Nation stands proud and will never surrender to any foreign attacks."

The sentence 'kill any traitors.' flashed on the screen, way too fast for Lento to even realize it had ever been there as the National anthem began to play. The flag covered the footage of the brave soldiers before another series of short sentences flashed in front of them.

'Never surrender.'

'Give your heart and soul to your duty.'

'Obey the Dictator. His word is Law and Order.'

'Glorify the Dictator. Obey the Organization.'

Most people had begun to sing along the patriotic song as the portrait of the emperor was covering the screen. Lento joined in the collective euphoria and raised his right arm straight upwards, the universal sign of allegiance to their leader. Many others began following his example.

"Glory to the Dictator!" he yelled.

"Glory to the Japanese Nation!" Aoi echoed before everyone began to say in unison the same words over and over again until the images on the screen faded to black and the sound of the anthem died out.
 
Dust Summersdale​

"Ah... shit... Why do I feel like I just got punched?" He mumbled as he got up, where he wobbled in place before placing a hand on the wall, there was a woman on the other side of a metal door talking, but he couldn't register the words coming from her mouth, as it was still muffled.

"Yo, give me a moment here. I think I'm still a bit drugged from that fuckin' tranquilizer." He put a hand up as his senses started to sharpen a bit after a minute or two. Standing up right after waking up was a mistake.

Now somewhat awake, still feeling a bit of pain though, he took the scenery around him. Yep, he was in a prison cell, that much was true and there was a woman with a caged Pixie on her lap. He looked at his torso to see that he was missing his jacket, looking around he saw it on the table and put it on calmly.

"So, you asked about my day right? Judging by your attire, you're probably a big shot from Home 3." He glanced back at the sleeping demon before returning his attention to the woman. "I know how this shding goes, miss. It doesn't take a genius to see that I got caught from my little stunt, guess I should've just sneaked about like I did a few years ago, though at the same time this just means the security in Home 3 isn't that great, maybe it's a wake up call from Home 2 fate, no?" He rambled before sitting down on the bed.

"Alright, let's see here... My day has been, so far, interesting. Well, now that I got caught that is, since before it started badly. I was on my way to the Academy, still on auto pilot from my school days, but as soon as I got to the Academy gates, I did a u-turn. I already knew that I failed the school year, because my grades were not sufficient to pass and that I had a bad reputation of being an aggressive delinquent in Home 3, nothing too grand like to the point of murdering someone delinquent, but to the point of bullying the bullies, if you catch my drift. I fought them bastards in a daily basis and ended up getting a good rep with the guys, ah, but that doesn't seem that interesting to you.

Back to my day, I went ahead and got my old man's old machete and headed outside with my brass knuckles in hand. Now the guard was doing his job, making sure that no citizens were leaving without a licensed DB to accompanying them, but, well, I wasn't a licensed one and I needed the cash to get myself a COMP. Ya see, I thought to myself, how could I help someone if they simply turn their attention to certified DB's? Then i just thought to becoming a mercenary one, you know, getting some cash along the way for food and helping people out, win-win in my book.

But to get a COMP, I needed macca, if you want macca you either get a job, which was impossible for me because of my reputation, or go outside, kill some demons for their stuff and come back to sell the spoils. The guard apparently was too lax on his duty, since the moment he turned his back on me, I was able to knock him out like a light. Now, I ain't proud of that, since basically I was putting people at risk for my own gain, but before I ran towards the surface, I yelled that he was down for the count to whoever was around. When you're desperate to do the right thing, you sometimes do the bad things to do them. Does it make sense?

Anyways, I went outside and fought around a couple of Pixies that were bullying that Pixie that you have on your lap. I killed two leaders and, I'm gonna say 9 regular Pixies, now I'm actually glad I was awake on those Demonology classes, they were mighty interesting to learn the various demons.

After I offed those demons, I looted their bodies and healed up that one up with a Magic Stone that one of them had. Again, thank you medicine class to teach me that. I wasn't out of the loop without a scratch though, you probably saw me from the CCTV that I was a little banged up. I completely forgot that you guys installed new ones a couple of years ago.

Now, I know that I shouldn't have brought a demon inside here. That was my mistake, but I just couldn't abandon the damn thing. If the Pixies came back and saw her alive, they'd probably resume trying to kill her off. So I thought, hey, she'll be useful when she learns healing magic, might as well take her with me, take care of her and she'll do me a solid when I get hurt.

After that, I went into the weapon shop to appraise one of my trophies that I got from the Pixies, saw that my Machete wasn't in any condition to help me out since it was in bad shape, as the shop assistant told me, gave her 50 macca, basically 90% of what I earned from the Pixies, 10 extra macca for the service and 40 macca for the appraisal. Then the Special Unit came by, put me to sleep and now I'm here in a holding cell talking with an attra-, *ahem* with an authority figure." He cut himself off and corrected himself, to not sound as rude to her.

MementoDei MementoDei
 
Last edited:
She put up a bit of a struggle, but when she felt a barrel of a gun jabbed underneath her chin, she froze and shut her eyes to not see them drag Dust away. Phantom clenched her fists and glared at Kei. "It's Miss Ayelet. Miss," She hissed. She registered the threat, and honestly even she had enough sense to not wanna die yet, but that didn't stop her from spitting at Kei's feet before chuckling a bit. "I'd rather take a bullet to the shoulder than take that macca."

MementoDei MementoDei
 
Akemi​

She nodded at Dustin’s interminable monologue. For a failing Academy student, he held his ground against low-rank demons decently. Of course, she knew everything he had told her in advance, as no one could truly hide much under the eye of the Organization.

“You are quite observant, and talkative, Mr. Summersdale. Almost bold enough for flattery in this situation.” she said with a small smirk after the man had finished to talk. “Usually CCTV installations don’t get casually observed by other inhabitants.”

She tapped to the side of the cell, almost wanting to scoff at Dustin’s firm belief those were mere CCTV surveillance. Yet, her multiple years at the service of the Intelligence Branch had taught her better than to let even the slightest misplaced emotion show on her face. The CCTV Dustin mention were but a facade for biometric sensors and some demon detectors that, while they had costed the Home a pretty penny, they had shown their results. She had left lax guards over the gates closest to the slums precisely as part of her project to deal with the lowering numbers of DBs after the disaster in Home 2.

The Academy formed incredible people, there was no doubt about that, but sometimes, like Dustin put it, the Organization needed a win-win situation. She received a notification on her COMP from a secured channel. No one but her knew that the sender was Kei Nagano. He reported what the shopkeeper had done before he went back to the Main Branch and she simply had to press two buttons to send his report to the Archives. Once that was done, she turned back her attention to the man in front of her.

She drew a Cal’ Maria from the side pocket of her jacket. She undid the safety and taped another code on the top of the cell, which opened a side door just big enough to let the barrel of her weapon enter the cell. She pointed her weapon at the pixie so the end of the barrel was inches away of the demon’s head.

“This is how safe this pixie is under your care. And how safe it will ever be since you figured you could take it inside humanity’s last bastion. I like practical examples, so take this sleeping demon as a representation your own safety from the moment unit S040 was sent to fetch you.”

Akemi put her finger right over the trigger so it was half-way pulled. “As you can see, the life of this pixie, and by extension you, resides on the will of Home 3 hotshots, as you call them. Which I am not part of, directly, but suppose I am for the sake of the example.”


The pression over the trigger lowered a little. “Make the right choice and I won’t be ordered by the real hotshots to pull the trigger. Make the bad one and...well, I think a man of your age, as bold as he can be, can foresee what will happen to his life.”

She put back the safety of the gun and hid it again in her jacket in fifteen seconds, then, it took her only ten to tap the code again and the entrance of the cell closed.

“The Academy has changed its evaluation methods, since the times you failed your tests. You have already a demon in your possession and some rudimentary fighting techniques. It would be a waste to terminate someone with a trace of potential. A diamond in the rough, as some would call it.”

She put the cage where the pixie was next to her and crossed her legs. “But it would be equally unprofitable for Home 3 to let someone with a certain reputation have access to something as valuable as a COMP without asking him to behave.”

Akemi tilted a bit her head to Dustin and clicked her tongue, feigning to be annoyed. “The surgeons did a bit of a messy job, I can see a bit of the scar on the left side of your neck. Discretion is apparently no longer part of their vocabulary...” she muttered that final sentence, to test just how well Dustin could read lips or hear. Depending on that, she would adjust her surveillance methods for her lucky subject number two of her project.

She frowned and sighed, adjusting unnecessarily her jacket and combing some invisible locks of hair back. The more she could sell her act of being momentarily flustered, the less she’d have to worry about Dustin distrusting her completely. Well, not that it mattered much, but Akemi would rather not activate the flask suddenly and call subject number 2 a failure. Number 1 had been a resounding success and once the same success repeated itself, her plan would be taken by the other Supervisors as more than a curious experiment.

It would perhaps replace Nanako Okomiya’s outdated methods of molding students’ minds into a fanatic patriotism that was already making certain families uncomfortable under some situations. Specially after what happened in Home 2.

“Well, no matter. That mishandling is perhaps what I need to make you understand your options. You have a small flask of poison right over your carotid. It obeys to a signal on one of my superior’s COMP. And on mine, as a backup. Act like anything less than an exemplar Academy student with your professors and classmates or refuse the offer now and that’ll be all for you. Try to take it out or tamper with it and, well, you might just as well die of blood loss and poisoning. The flask is a fragile thing. ”

This, of course, was nothing but a bluff. There was only a larger dose of a different tranquilizer in that flask. Nothing inherently lethal, but it would feel like poisoning for an agonizing half and hour before it induced him in a coma until she or someone under her orders administered an ‘antidote’. The flask was what could become lethal in the event he tried to take it out. It was designed to explode when its sensors analyzed it was being tampered with. The shards would make Dustin bleed out in minutes, since they would be sent all around with enough force to pierce the artery.

“If you choose to accept, I have been authorized to give you options so you do not have to worry about doing side-jobs to keep a roof over your head nor food on your plate. That is all I have to say, Mr. Summersdale. What follows next depends on you.”

Fume Fume
 
Dustin Summersdale​

"Lady, with all due respect, you are trying too hard." He spoke before lying down on the bed again while putting his hands behind his head.

"You think that I don't know my options already? I'm a delinquent, not a normal citizen. Once you have this life, you gotta stay sharp and do what you can to make do. But even I can see the bullshit in you words, pardon my language. This isn't my first rodeo with this crap.

Let's say that I do accept the first option, people would find it odd that a delinquent, someone that is somewhat aggressive like me, started acting all goody two shoes. I might not have that much of a reputation, but I do have people that would question why I changed so much after being 'kindly' escorted inside. That's already a counter, as the people that DO know me, will just assume you guys did something to me and then you'll have to do more cleanup.

And me refusing?" He shifted before looking at her with lazy eyes.

Both options are shit. Obey or die? Doesn't look that different from how Home 2 worked. Though I can give you some info about what happened, not that it is any important, you probably already know from the other survivors on how there were, not only one attack, but two in different places at the same time. I witnessed the moment that 'Taraka' charged through with those paper demons behind it.

I have nothing in my name, what I do have is actual combat experience with me walking outside when I was young. Something that your so called Academy only gives to seniors, or the starting up juniors.

I have a leveled head, I know when my ropes are down and I have no other choice, but to obey and become a slave against my will. I don't like it, and I don't like on how I can't even be my own self, with you guys trying to change that. Restricting my moves and all that, it's already Home 2 territory.

If there were a third option, say, exile from Home 3, I'd probably take up that offer. No more blood in your hands, less cleanup as well." He turned his head back to the ceiling before continuing to talk.

"So let's get this over with, I know you have more important things than to talk with a low life, am I right? Also, I can't act exemplary, but I can TRY to play nice. No rough housing or fights, maybe some verbal talking, but nothing more. If they throw the first punch though... That is self defense territory."

MementoDei MementoDei
 
Last edited:
Kei hates hearing the propaganda video, especially during his training. It was already hard enough to concentrate on conjuring a spell, but when the rest of the class drops what they're doing to chant at the top of their lungs, there is no hope of him ever getting back into the mood. He half-heartedly echoes back the statements the monitors are displaying. Meanwhile, his contracted demon cackles at the chaos, her scratchy laugh only adding to his irritation.

"Shut up...you're giving me a headache," he mumbles under his breath. The demon doesn't cease her scratchy laugh.

"Humans are such fascinating creatures! So gullible and easily frightened...! But you! You're not like the others that I have met. And that means entertainment."

"Tch...Great, I landed an annoying one."

"Aww...why so mean? I'm only as annoying as you want me to be."

The tan-haired student raises his hand and, for once, wholeheartedly attempts to cast the spell his professor had assigned him. But his efforts yield nothing, especially after hearing the demon's grating voice echoing in his mind.

"Stop laughing, you damn harpy!"

"Why should I? And you can't just call me 'harpy'! I deserve a name that stands out from the rest of my species."

"Then why don't you make up your own name?"

"I can't pick one on my own! There are too many choices!"

He wants to slam his fist into a wall.
 
After the whole arrest incident, Phantom stuck to the routine of going into the Hakamada's shop and returning to her little apartment. She needed money and it would be more idiotic than usual for her to just quit. And if she did quit, then what? Wander aimlessly until a demon decides to end her suffering? Nah, she isn't about that life. Despite people's perceptions of those of the Chaotic alignment, Phantom didn't just do everything for shits and giggles....despite that her reasoning for doing most things were "because I felt like it" or "I thought it would be fun."

Before she was disowned by her family, Phantom was in the life of the elite. A middle child who was a bit more rebellious than the siblings, Chaotic all the way through. Phantom refused to learn healing magic, and instead convinced her parents to learn how to shoot and it turned out she had a knack for being a Gunner. Then, Phantom vocalized her identity: she wasn't comfortable in her skin, she identified more as a female and wanted to look the part.

She kissed the elite life goodbye that day. But Phantom had the last laugh, she got her hands on the family's money and spent it all to mold herself to be the real Phantom Ayelet.

Phantom can't say the last time she's been this comfortable with herself and she's been the happiest that she's been in a long time.

Well, she can now because the stupid fucking task force had to bust their asses into the shop. And she got the fucking macca to "compensate" for the inconvenience.

She dropped the macca onto the counter in front of Hakamada. "I'd like that gun," Phantom said as she pointed over his shoulder, "And as much ammo for it that I can buy while also being able to afford a couple of hours in your gun range. Please."

Hakamada blinked. "You changed your mind on the macca?"

"Yeah, well, I realized that since I can afford something nice, might as well get it."

He shrugged and now that the fiasco was over, he could access the desired handgun, a Sweeper with its holster. He handed it to Phantom before turning to grab the ammo she needed. "It's probably going to be a quiet day," He said as he piled the ammo on the counter, "So make sure you're wearing the ear protection. If you're needed, you'll know."

Phantom smiled, storing the ammo into her bag before loading the Sweeper's magazine with a clip of her new ammo, sheathing it in her holster, and hooking the holster around her hips. "Thank you so much Mr. Hakamada." Then she weaved behind the counter to move down the small hallway leading to the gun range. She dug through her bag to get some ear plugs, shoved them in her ears before placing her bag at her feet as she aimed at a target and her body almost went into autopilot as she went through the motions of aim, shoot, blink, repeat. When the Sweeper was emptied, Phantom stared at the target.

She hit the center area for the majority of her shots, a few bullets actually hitting the bulls-eye. And there were a few strays in the outer rings. Not perfect aim, because that's impossible, but good enough aim to be told that she could hold her own in a fight.

She took a deep breath and holstered her gun, pulling her ear plugs out. "Still got it." Then she re-plugged her ears, reloaded, pressed a button to have a fresh target available to shoot and continued at it.

After a while, she finally cleaned up after herself, grabbed her things and took her usual place behind the counter to count down the hours to go back to home.

The next day she went in to work and it was a bit busier but nothing too eventful happened. Once the shop grew quiet, Phantom took the opportunity to take her break and reclaim the shooting range to blow off some steam. After a few rounds, she huffed out a breath and was about to clean up when someone gave a slow clap. She turned around to see a random Demon Buster leaning against the wall behind her and he gave a low whistle once she took an ear plug out.

"You have a pretty aim for a pretty girl," He complimented, "Not your first time handling a gun?"

"Obviously not. But thanks, I guess," Phantom said as she re-holstered and started to clean up.

"You ever been to the Academy? Shame if you dropped out."

She briefly froze, before continuing. "No, I've never been. Family needed me, so I couldn't."

"Have you thought about submitting an application? You have the skills to get in."

Phantom laughed, rushing through the rest of her cleaning before waving at the Demon Buster. "Nice talk."

She returned to her designated spot at the counter, leaning and waiting for someone to interact with her. With an idle body and boredom, Phantom's thoughts lingered on the conversation. She scowled and glanced about the shop. Sure, she managed to snag a job after moving out to Home III, but beyond that she doesn't have a plan. That delinquent, Dustin if she remembered the name correctly, at least was about to offer her something new and exciting to do.

The Academy was starting to sound appealing.

"I'm going to the Academy," Phantom blurted out as she and Hakamada were closing shop for the day.

"Good for you," He said with an air of indifference, "You're leaving?"

"Yep. Which is better off for you. Barely anyone comes in to get their stuff appraised and sh-stuff."

"Alright. Have a good night."

Phantom didn't hesitate to grab and submit an application as soon as possible. And when she went in to take entrance exams, she was ready to fling herself off of the nearest cliffs. The only time she'll pray that her last name tying her to her elite family would suffice to at least consider her entry because brains wasn't her strong suit. Phantom kept her knowledge pertinent to things she knew were useful in life like how money works and the simple math to keep track of spending. She knew how to properly behave with her weapons in public and she couldn't forget the history even if she wanted to.

Fuck Algebra or whatever math that was on a portion of the exams. She'd be blessed by whatever god was out there that she even managed a decent grade.

When it came to showcasing her gun skills, Phantom strut before the Academy's Enrollment Adminstrator in an large, spaceous room in the Academy. An area set aside specifically for entrance applicants to be tested in.

"Well Mr. Ayelet," She said and gave a blatant distasteful glance over of Phantom's appearance that made Phantom bristle, "To be frank, your Academic performance is severely lacking. Disappointing due to your status, but you claim to have experience with guns." She gestured to the room around them. "In a moment, we will begin a simulation. The task is simple; shoot as many demons in the simulation within the time limit while I observe on the screen outside of the room. You'll know when you're out of time. When you've completed the simulation, you will find out whether you're worthy of honing your skills further here at the Academy. Good luck, I suppose." The Administrator left the room, leaving Phantom scrambling to put on the equipment necessary.

She got her gun ready, and as soon as the simulation began and she was bombarded with simulated demons, she just let her body go through the motions. Phantom didn't pay any mind to the time limit, her focus solely on aiming where it mattered to the specific demon she was targeting since there was a variety. Of course, it was test to see if she could actually do what she claimed. Keeping it to one kind of demon wouldn't be much of a test, and since Phantom had difficulty identifying some of them she just quickly aimed at what she assumed were vital points and prayed the demon went down swiftly.

Once the simulation suddenly shut down, Phantom tossed her visor off and panted. She shook her trigger hand and twirled her sore arms as she exited the room and stopped at the small group of students gathered to stare at her results on the screen. She glanced at the number of fake demon she felled, exhausted enough to not even try to make sense of the number. For all she knew, it was balls just like her exam scores.

"Impressive," the Adminstrator said and she dismissed the crowd with a stern glare and a wave of her hand. "What you lack in studies, you make up for in combat. You managed to reach within the high percentile of our students with your aim. Congratulations Mr. Phantom Ayelet-"

"Miss Phantom Ayelet."

"Mr. Ayelet. Welcome to the Academy. Keep improving with your gun prowess, frankly, that's the only reason you got in."
 
Last edited:
Akemi​

She nodded and tapped a few commands on her COMP. "I can't help being as clear as I can, Mr. Summersdale. Some people of the slums are...slower than others. No offence." She paused for a moment as the gates behind her opened slowly. "Boss, that is his answer."

Truthfully, there was no one higher than her in the room, but the lights dimmed enough to allow a holographic shadow to step in next to her and look like a real person. It only did a hand gesture before walking back and the doors opened again to let him out. The lighting went back to normal and she tapped more commands into her COMP, reopening Dustin's Academy file and assigning him to the last group. He would be with younger people, for the most part, but it would be slightly below level of competence. She could have put him in a trainee unit already, given his aptitude to fight, but there were many things he needed to understand to become a team-player.

"Remember that all Homes and humanity's survival depends on people like my boss. It will always be obeying or dying. If not, we would still be living like savages in chaos. Many lives depend on the choices my boss makes and surveillance is only one of the steps people like him have to take so we can dream of living in a peaceful world where demons are no more. Once no more demons roam around our nation, maybe you could dream of another option besides obeying or dying. In the meantime, you will now live in quarters in the middle-class Area 45. A nice apartment on a third floor all for you, all expenses covered by us. Including monthly food rations. You will resume your last year of formation before becoming a trainee. Of course, once you become an official Demon Buster, we will expect you to pay your own bills with your salary. That is all you need to know. Now, I am sorry, but I must put you to sleep once more. Confidentiality issues."

A gas filled the prison and once Dust was out cold, she smiled to herself as she informed the other Home Leaders and her former Supervisor that her lucky subject number had passed phase 1 successfully.

-----
​
She was back at her quarters when Supervisor Tokugawa called her with a Priority 1 call. Whatever he had to say, if she did not answer immediately, she would face grave consequences.

"Ōhashi"

"Congratulations on your success, Akemi," the computerized voice began. It was pitched in a way that it became impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman speaking on the other side, "I had expected you would never disappoint me again. I have a new project you might be interested in."

She kept her expression calm although she could still feel a small drop of cold sweat make its way over her neck. "What might that be, Tokugawa?"

There was no fear in her voice, not even anxiety as she spoke to Tokugawa. All Supervisors had a code name based on emperors, shoguns or even warlords from history. Akemi had never figured out Tokugawa's identity and it was that same mystery that made the Supervisor even more threatening to people like her.

"I have received the Academy reports of Anomaly students. Looking at a certain Lento Iten makes me wonder...he could be part of the first agents that can handle a synthetic demon. My researchers have one almost ready for testing."

"Those are wonderful news. I suppose they were capable of solving the alignment incompatibility problems Hirohito could not overcome."

A few seconds of silence followed and Akemi kept herself from biting her lower lip. "We reduced them, true. You are very well-informed, aren't you?"

"For the safety of my Home and ensuring that your projects are successful, Tokugawa, I will always keep myself informed."

The voice chuckled. "Quite loyal, aren't we? Good girl. We are building our own Dragon type demon. We have to prove that we can squash Nobunaga's ambitions at any cost, don't we?"

"Yes, Tokugawa."

"Good. Do what you must to have that Lento brat be around Home 38 two years and five months from now. I will take charge so any casualties are only an unfortunate accident. Demon Busters always brave danger so courageously, it's almost poetic..."

The call cut short and Akemi contemplated the screen of her COMP in silence. A web of emotions was tangled inside her and it wanted to explode in any way, crying, laughing, anything that would get that out of her. The woman prepared herself a bath and sank in the bathtub as ambient jazz music played in her quarters. She sank below the water and began screaming underwater, hugging herself as she covered her scarred back with her hands. Once she ran out of air, she rose up, accepting that the tears of despair that rolled down her cheeks were poorly hidden by the sensors all around her home. Even if the cameras could not see them, her heartbeat, her brain signals, everything else betrayed her. She passed her fingers over her shoulders where marks of acid had burnt her skin, twisting superficially her shoulder. The marks ran all the way down to the middle of her back like sprayed paint that someone had made dry. Like the wax of a candle dripping down to the chandelier.

She pushed her hair back to cover with its softess the marks she wanted to forget the most. Once she got out of her bath and dried herself, she put on a light black babydoll pyjama and walked slowly to the kitchen counter. Akemi served herself half a glass of scotch with ice. Of course, the acid-like burn was far from tasting like the real thing, but it was enough to soothe her worries away. She observed the city from a 35th floor, with its lights and prestigious buildings of the upper-class circles of Home 3. She would have to kill a kid in the name of a Supervisor once more. Two years and five months.

"That's...right on his anniversary." she murmured as she turned off the lights and went to sleep and did not dream, just like every other night for the past seven years.
 
Last edited:
Dustin Summersdale​

As the gas filled his cell, he panicked a bit before passing out. Everything was dark, it was a bit cold and there was an odd buzzing noise coming from wherever the heck he was. He slowly opened his eyes, at first being blurry, but when he blinked a couple of times everything became clearer and he sat up from where he had been sleeping.

He looked around the room and saw that he was in an apartment complex or something similar to that. He spotted his Unknown Sword, his trophy of defeating the Pixies, lying down on a table in front of him, his broken machete was also there, though it didn't seem his brass knuckles were there anymore.

"Great... now I gotta buy another set when I can..." He thought to himself as he scratched the back on his neck slowly, before touching the back of his neck. He tensed up a bit when he remembered that the flask was around where he was touching. "Wherever I go, it seems that this is the same treatment that we get. It's honestly ironic." He gave a dry chuckle, before he spotted with the corner of his eye something else in the room. On another couch, there was an envelop and what looked like a Trainee's practice COMP. Standing up, he went forward and opened it.

It was a schedule of his class in the Academy. It should've started today, or the day before, as his sense of time was a bit off with all the sleeping. There was also some words written, saying to get ready today to ready up and get into the Academy to start the day.

"They really don't pull any punches." He thought before analyzing the COMP, it was like the regular ones, except this one was modified to only be for practice, which meant that the capacity to hold demons was limited to only 2 demons at most. Even if it was a practice one, far from a regular one, he affectionately rubbed his right thumb on it. It gave him a sense that, despite his rough upbringing, he could actually do something now. Something good for the people, and not just fight them off. He felt like the beginning of a demon buster.

Looking around, he spotted the Pixie that he had taken with him in a cage next to the entrance door, wide awake and shivering in fear. He approached her slowly and knelt down. She recognized him, and let him open the cage up with a key that was some ways away from her reach. When he opened it, she took her time to come out and take to the air, floating around and looking around as well.

"Guess this is gonna be our home for now." He told her as he set up his COMP on his left arm.

"O-Our h-home?" She asked not sure what he meant by that, was he referring to her as well?

"I mean, if you don't mind. I now have a COMP, so we can make a contract." He said nonchalantly as he was fiddling with the device, seeing that there seemed to be a limit to how strong a demon could actually become as well, that was rather disappointing to learn.

"B-but are you sure? I-I'm very weak... Couldn't even win against two other Pixies... That's the reason I was being going to be beaten to death by the others." She said with a somber tone, feeling down that if he actually made a contract with her, then she wouldn't do much.

"So what if you're weak now? I'm not that strong either, but there's no rule saying we couldn't become stronger, right?" He reassured her while giving a patient smile to the demon, that seemed to make her tear up a bit.

"Y-you're wrong! You are stronger than me! So much so! So why do you want me to be with you so much? Is it pity?" She asked, feeling very insecure about his actual reasons. He didn't spoke and approached her, she wanted to get away from him, but he wasn't showing any hostility to her.

"I just want a friend to be by my side. That's not much to ask right?" He responded to her, still with the same patient smile. She looked at him, tears still building up on her eyes and falling down on the ground, before hugging him.

"If you really mean that... then please... hug me..." She gave a request to him, to truly know if he would want her, if he'd hug a demon such as her. He did so, not hesitating even once, being careful with her wings. She smiled while tears streamed with joy instead of sadness, she wanted to be accepted, and he did so without a second thought. It made her happy.

"Is there anything else that you want, Pixie?" He asked while softly petting her small back, she was the size of a child, yet thanks to her wings she was floating around his torso so it was easy to hug her.

"N-name... Could you give me a n-name? I don't want you to always call me Pixie..." She requested again, a little shyly towards him.

"Hmm..." He thought a bit while humming, thinking of a good name for her, but he was never good at naming things. So instead, he just said the first thing he thought that she'd like. "Lilly. Do you like that name?" He wasn't very sure about the name, it was just a name he remembered from a girl back at Home 2.

"..." She was silent, contemplating the name and making him think that maybe she didn't like it, but then she chuckled like a little kid before letting go. "Lilly likes the name! So now, Lilly will be Lilly! I'll be in your care..." Only now she remembered that he never told her his name.

"The name's Dustin, but just call me Dust. A few people know me by that name." He responded to her before she nodded to him. He hovered his COMP in front of her, scanning her before having her retreat into the device. On the screen, you could see her looking around the place, interested to see her new surroundings. "How does it look inside?" He asked her, to which she looked at him.

"It's a little odd, and I don't like it so much in here, but I guess I'm okay with it, if I don't stay too long in here." She said, feeling like she was caged yet again.

"Don't worry, once the Academy's classes are over, I'll let you out in our home." He reassured her to which she was relieved that she wouldn't be inside the COMP for long. He then went to explore the house while fidgeting his device to see what else was stored in it. There was some macca and some magnetite, it seemed that they gave him enough for him to summon Lilly a couple of times and enough money to go by without any troubles.

The apartment was rather bland, but it had the essentials. A kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and a bedroom, everything within order. The kitchen had food around, mainly in the fridge with a couple of cans of instant noodles, cereal and milk, there was silverware, plates and bowls to be used. The bathroom had towels hanging, shampoo and body wash next to the shower, although the shower was kinda small and the curtains looked a bit dirty from accumulated dust. He was already at the living room, so now he went to his bedroom, where it was the standard as well, a comfy bed with two nightstands.

For a normal person, this was not that exciting, but for a delinquent that had to endure quite a lot, this was a blessing. He looked into the closet and saw his uniform for the academy, ready to be used. He wore it, after he took a much needed shower to clear his mind, but he didn't put his necktie, opting for having his shirt slightly open to allow him to breathe a little easier. He was still much like a delinquent, but at least he looked the part of the Academy and it's standards.

"Alright, this should do." He mumbled to himself as he grabbed his bag with the school supplies and putting the schedule in his front pocket. He also grabbed his Unknown Sword, but left his old man's machete, he didn't want to damage it any further.

It took him awhile to get his bearings, but he soon recognized where he was, Home 3 wasn't THAT big, but one could get confused with houses and apartments being the same design. Once he arrived at the Academy, he released a small sigh as he would need to start at the beginning, something that he wasn't very fond of since most of his classmates were younger than him. He walked inside after he took in a bored expression as he walked with a casual pace inside the hallways, trying to look for the number of his first class.
 
The last couple of days in the Academy have been hell. Phantom couldn't get herself to focus in her academic classes, and as such she tried to participate as minimally as possible. Even when she was able to focus on the lectures, barely any information was being retained and it was obvious. She answered questions wrong when she was forced to participate, and she had the bad luck to get slammed with a quiz on her first day of class.

She failed it obviously. Worst mark of the class. The professor was kind of impressed that Phantom managed the feat underneath all of the disappointment and frustration. He hadn't seen a student fail so badly, it was a new record.

Phantom was dreading the day she could make a contract with a demon with her training COMP. It was a dumb notion, but she wanted to make a contract with a demon that actually wanted one. She wanted her and a demon to click and get along right away.

She walked down the hall with a sigh, grumbling as she was forced to wear the male school unform but it was at the right size to fit her proper enough. Phantom stopped short when she noticed a familiar man and she quickly made her way over.

"Oh look what the cat dragged in," She greeted, "Dustin right? How's the sword and machete doing? Last time we met, it was quite the event."

Fume Fume
 
Dustin Summersdale
​
Hearing a voice that he recognized, he looked to the side to see a quickly approaching female... using a male outfit? He looked from up to down, looking at her face to then recognizing her.

"Hey, you're the weapon shop assistant! Man, how long has it been? I've been knocked over for a few days, so I have NO idea what day it is today. It was eventful, indeed. A bit rough, enough to be life changing, so to speak. Machete is back at home, haven't touched it since it's, well broken. And that sword? Can't say. I wasn't able to practice with it." He explained before rolling his right shoulder, cracking it from the tension. Normally, he'd crack his neck, but that wasn't a good idea, specially with the flask.

"I didn't know that girls wore male uniforms. Was there a gender law here that passed and put everyone in a gender neutral stance?" He asked while taking out his schedule. "Also, would you mind telling me where this class is? I'm not familiar with this place..." Only now he realized he didn't remember her name, or if she even told him even. "Ah, right. I completely blanked on your name. What's your name, girl? I can't be the only one introduced."

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Phantom chuckled briefly before her grin slowly died. "No, they didn't pass a law," She answered, "I'm Phantom." Her stance had been a bit tense but relaxed with every proper affirmation that yes. She is a girl. "I was forced to wear the male uniform, and I don't wanna talk about it but..." She leaned a bit closer to look at his schedule, "Oh we're going in the same direction! Come on, they'll never let you forget being late on your first day." The blonde rolled her eyes playfully and started to lead the way.

"Oh, I'm not the shop assistant anymore. Quit when I decided to join the Academy, and they liked my skills with a gun so I got in. Maybe you can watch me shoot later." She gave a wink. "And maybe I can see you practice with that sword too. Oh!" She looked over her shoulder. "I could fix that machete for you still! No charge. I feel really bad for that poor blade."

Fume Fume
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Similar threads

Morbuskid
Fantasy 1924: New Avion [Open] (IC)
1920s action drama
Replies
0
Views
26
Morbuskid
Morbuskid
CHUUYAS_HAT
Fandom 𝖤𝗑𝗈𝗍𝗂𝖼 𝖫𝖾𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌 - Pokémon AU (Open & Accepting)
battles fandom pokemon
Replies
8
Views
187
CHUUYAS_HAT
CHUUYAS_HAT
GiantLizard-06
Fantasy "Just like the Animes." (Isekai RP - Open)
2 anime isekai oc
Replies
29
Views
823
ZackStop
ZackStop
Morgaine Kri Chya
Fantasy Gates of Tirath - Sword & Planet Adventure [Open]
gates of tirath rp
Replies
3
Views
161
Morgaine Kri Chya
Morgaine Kri Chya
KamenSniper223
Fandom Persona: new beginnings
Replies
0
Views
50
KamenSniper223
KamenSniper223
Back
Top