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

[Fume]

"Free of charge? Tempting, very tempting. But nah, that's my old mans machete, if I want to have it repaired, then I gotta give something to the repairer. He'd be happy knowing I was actually taking care of his weapon the good way and not the 'hand me down', way. Though, thanks for the offer! I'd probably use it on my actual sword." He said as he followed her, slowly thinking that maybe he had classes with her.

"I've seen a lot of shooters when I was in the streets, I'd like to see what you've got, toots." He replied while carrying his bag in a delinquent fashion as always.

"Hey, you're the pretty lady from the shop! Hi!" Lilly spoke from his COMP, trying to grab her attention while waiving at her.

"Lilly, I don't think the Academy likes demons to talk too much. I'm not against it, but people might not like it." He warned her, to which she sulked a bit and pouted.

"I'm just saying hi, Dust." She spoke with a scowl. How adorable she looked.

"This is Lilly, she's a Pixie. I found her during that time that I got that sword. I didn't had a COMP back then, but now that I have one, I'm keeping her safe in it and to be my partner." He made some small talk before reaching the classroom. "Ugh... I have a feeling that I gotta introduce myself to a bunch of kids... I'm not looking forward to that. I mean, that's the normal reaction from a 21 year old... This is not gonna be a good day for me."

As they entered. he saw that the students were chatting with each other or just passing the time before the teacher came into view. Although he wanted to come in, he decided to wait for the teacher to come up to introduce himself, though some students caught eye of him and were whispering with each other.

"Hey, who's the new guy? Is he our substitute teacher?"

"You don't know the Home 2 delinquent? He's an absolute menace from what I heard."

"What do you mean? He can't be that bad, right?"

"I heard that he once beat a kid so hard that he had to get surgery to fix his face, just because the kid pissed him off." He shivered at the thought that his pretty face would be next

"I heard he once broke a mans' arm, no one knows why he did it." He imitated the snap of the bone breaking

"I actually saw him tailing a girl once. He was a couple of ways away from her, but he had this look in his eyes that looked like he wanted to kill her. He also was dressed up like a worker from the construction department." She informed with some contempt for him.

"You think that it's his alibi when he stalks a new victim?" One of them gasped in realization.

"I hope I never have to meet him before curfew..."

"You better go to your seat, I'll just wait out here. I already can tell that I'm gonna break some skulls in the classroom." He spoke to her while gesturing Phantom to go to her usual spot. Unbeknownst to him, his voice was a bit irritated, making it sound a bit higher than before and reaching to the students that were at the front.

He waited before the teacher came by, and it was no surprise that it was a teacher that he didn't know. She looked at him from up to bottom, with an annoyed expression.

"I have no idea who you are or where you come from, but in this prestige Academy we have a dress code to uphold." She said with an irritated tone towards him, he simply dismissed that remark before taking out his schedule.

"This IS your class, right? Well, unlucky for the both of us, we're gonna be stuck together, teach. I think you already got informed that you're getting a new student right?"

"And that student would be you, am I right?" He gave a small nod, not really interested that she deduced it right. "Mr. Dustin Summersdale, correct? I've heard that you somehow slipped up in School a few many times. How on earth were you able to enroll in this place?" She shook her head, not even wanting to hear the reason from the delinquent. "You already know how we're doing this right?"

"Wait for the signal and I'll introduce myself. Not the first time I've seen it." He responded halfheartedly to her. She roll her eyes before entering the classroom, making the students go back to their seats and waiting for them to quiet down.

"Students of the prestige Academy for Demon Busters. Today we have another student joining our school. Would you care to introduce yourself?" She gave him the signal and he entered the classroom with lazy steps as he approached the chalkboard before turning to face them with a lazy demeanor, but still with a sharp pair of eyes.

"The names' Dustin Summersdale, but you can just call me Dust. I'm 22 years old and I have no hobbies to speak off. I'll be honest with you, don't bother to introduce yourselves to me, I'll most likely forget your names in the first week, unless you make a damn fine introduction or join me for a pint. Otherwise, you will be nothing more than twerps in my eyes." He glared at each and everyone one of them, except for Phantom.

"Yes, yes. We are already aware of your nature, Mr. Dustin. Now please, take a seat and let's start our class." She spoke up before he rolled his eyes and sat down in an empty seat, right in front of Phantom, since it was the only seat available. "We'll now begin on the continuation of our last class, the demonology of demons. Pay attention and you might learn a thing or two."

"If this was Physical Education, I'd definitely put more effort... I wonder if the dump still has those weight training equipment that I spot the other day. They are still in good condition to use and that apartment is so bland... I'll make a visit there after classes for sure."

Phant0m

 

[CodeSpade]

Aurora could only let out crocodile tears as she babbled on about how cruel her teacher was, while Valerie hummed thoughtfully, not really listening to her sister as her eyes stayed glued to the flickering lightbulb in their room, ‘I wonder how Vivienne is doing…’

“A-and to think, the teacher called me stupid Valerie, STU-PID! No one has ever called me that before. Nobody has ever done that!” Aurora took a deep breath to calm herself down, “But enough about me.” Silence filled their room for a couple of minutes before Aurora opened her mouth again.

“They’re going to evaluate us for our affinity in 3 days you know?” That brought Valerie’s focus to Aurora and she saw thumbs twiddle, “I’m not sure what my affinity would be and I figured to ask you about your affinity so maybe it would be easier for me to choose between neutral and law.”

Valerie hummed thoughtfully again, “With how much you stick to the rules, I would have thought you would feel affiliated with law more so than neutral does.” Aurora let out a small smile.

“I stick to the rules because those that don’t get punished severely,” Valerie snorted at this, “Why snort at this?”

“You follow the rules and go beyond what is needed to be done to succeed, you’re the ideal student in The Academy and you might even be the ideal demon buster that mom and dad wants you to be, so what is holding you back from affiliating with law?”

Aurora was silent and the silence suffocated the room for a couple of minutes.

“I don’t know.”

 

[MementoDei]

Lento​

Once he got home from his classes, he walked back home alone as he had always done. The apartment he lived in was on the fourth floor of what could be considered a fairly middle-class area. As usual, his mother was doing overtime and he came in to an empty place. He began his evening by cooking some dinner and perhaps enough portions for tomorrow's lunch. As he was cooking the rice, he thought about summoning his demon. It would perhaps lift the sour mood he had left with after class.

The Kodama hovered over his COMP and floated over his shoulder, staring at the rice cooker without a word.

"That's rice," he began, trying to fill the silence his new demon had left. He knew that demons could speak, but he was never used to start a conversation with anyone, let alone a demon. "It'll take about twenty minutes to be cooked. Oh no...I should've put the Miso soup first!" he turned off the rice cooker and hurried to cut the ingredients necessary to make the broth of the traditional soup. "Uhm...demons don't eat human food, do they?"

"do they?" the demon echoed.

Lento scoffed and shook his head. Kodamas were spirits that created echo, or so the legends said. What was he expecting? He only got the weakest of all law demons, of course it would not be sentient enough to continue a conversation. He peeled some carrots to slice them before putting into the miso soup he was preparing. After an hour and a half, he served himself a portion of fried tofu with miso soup and rice. His Kodama kept watching him and decided to sit on the edge of the table, close to him. It seemed to look around the apartment and lose its gaze in the silence all around it.

"No one?"

Lento shook his head. "My mom should come later tonight, so there is someone else living here. Not sure if she'd like to see you around, though..."

"though...why?"

"Well, it's complicated," He finished his soup with a frown, knowing that he had again put too much salt in it. "But it'd be better for me to just follow her trade instead of my dad's."

The demon tilted his head. "instead of your dad's? Why?"

Lento sighed. "Well...my dad wasn't Japanese, so sticking to what he used to do just...rubs most people the wrong way. Not that I ended up caring too much. At the end of the line, they won't live my life for me. Only I get to decide what makes my life worth it."

"...Strange one."

The small demon grabbed a small handful of rice from Lento's plate and ate it. Because he had turned off the rice cooker as it was cooking the rice, the final product was almost as sticky to be perfect for mochis. The Kodama ate it with such delight, it confused him. "Well, you're the first one to enjoy my cooking this much. I guess we're both strange."

"Both strange? No. I am disappointed by your selfish choice. Not your cooking. Do not change your cooking."

The Academy student frowned. "Wow...now this something else. A demon who agreed to a contract is now disappointed? I am pretty disappointed myself. I will give you a name though. Ketsumochi."

"Disillusion? How petty of you. Change it."

"You don't want the name? No more rice for you until I think of a new one, then."

Ketsumochi dressed itself in surprise as Lento took the bowl of rice away from its reach. "Wait! Not the rice! Name can be fine if you call me Mochi!"

"...As in hope?"

The demon shook its head.

"Full moon? Ambition? Desire? Tempting? Profit?"

"Mochi as in rice cake."

Lento rose an eyebrow at the odd choice of a nickname, but kept his promise and gave back the sticky rice to his demon's hands. "Alright, that can work...my name is Lento. Lento Iten."

"Lento Iten...strange first name and depressing last name."

"Oi. I can still take the rice away, you know?"

-----​

He made his way to the academy early, as he always used to. It would reduce his headaches to deal with people that would throw a lot of bad comments at him. If he was not as tall and did not take the time to workout, Lento was certain he could be an easy target for anyone. He sat at the front row, near the window and opened his demonology textbooks to take notes an hour before the class began. With an old music player in his ears, he distracted himself from the usual chatter that went on until the class began. Today, however, the usual chatter was even louder than usual. It was distracting him and he put the music in the dusty cassette player on pause. Next to him was, to his surprise, Aoi Tsukane whispering nervously to her friend Nanako Yamada. They were looking at the entrance of the class, where a man in his twenties stood wearing the school uniform along a blonde woman, who strangely wore the same uniform as well.

"...The hell?" he muttered and it was loud enough for the two girls to his left to turn briefly their attention to him.

"Oh, look, Nana-chan," Aoi began, "it looks like withering doctor finally reacted to the scum who just showed up."

"Well, his family is almost at their level, so, no wonder."

Lento rolled his eyes and put back his earphones on, setting the volume a bit higher and focused back on his notes only to be interrupted again by Aoi poking his forearm. He glared briefly at her, but did not pay her much attention until he saw the teacher at the door. He put his music on pause and listened to Dust present himself in the most irrespecutful manner he had ever seen. For once, he was tempted to agree with Aoi's judgement, but it was still strange to him to see not only one, but two older students among them. And one wearing the male uniform despite being female.

"Hey, does your mother do...plastic surgeries?" Aoi whispered.

"Why the sudden interest?"

"Well...there are some degenerates out there with enough money to tempt doctors into...you know, changing their appearance. I wouldn't be surprised if your mother did that to people like Mr. Ayelet to get you in, really."

Lento looked coldly at her and gave her the truth to her face. "My mother has saved more lives than the number of failing grades you two and your boyfriends have gotten since you've been here. That makes wonder who's really using mommy's money to stay here."

Nanako was about to reply when the teacher called for their attention and the class began as usual.

 

[Late]

Xavier Ryuu
​

Xavier let out a short sigh as he uncomfortably tried to adjust the uniform he was wearing, doing his best to take notes down from the current lesson being taught today. His hunger was distracting him throughout the class time, making him regret how his morning went. His caretaker told him how he would need to be responsible for the times he would to bed and knowing how early he would need to wake up. Xavier woke up late this morning that he threw his uniform on and went running out the door without saying a word. He was on time but it cost him any breakfast. At the very least, Xavier was grateful for keeping everything he needs in his bag so it was an easy grab and go.

'Maybe I can grab a snack once the class is over? I have the change for it...maybe I shouldn't...lunch is after this class but uh...I don't think I packed a lunch...'

Xavier is currently in his weapon knowledge class, already having a good grasp of the subject. He has been doing his best to study hard and take down any useful notes, not to mention that it is a long class compare to the others he takes. It's draining but Xavier tries to not let the duration bother him. However, having no food in his stomach was different. The duration of the class was painful for him and Xavier was starting to feel like his notebook was a tasty meal. Yet, he needs to keep up with appearances. Something that his caretaker told him to always do, no matter the situation.

Besides the hunger, Xavier was as well a bit nervous and excited for the evaluation of his affinity, which should be in a couple of days. He took a few classes about the COMP and Xavier was quick to learn how to use them. Not to mention, his caretaker taught him about the COMP during the time of being homeschooled. That practically was enough for him to go through tests and to obtain one for himself. There was a lot that his caretaker, Eos, taught him about which gave him an easier time getting through his classes. However, there were some things that Eos couldn't teach him and that was weapon knowledge, as well as combat skills. In which, that was the main reason why he was here at the Academy. At first, Xavier was against it since it'll lead him to gain a demon, but Eos convinced him. Plus, it would be nice to have a demon to help him in the future, such as crafting. Though, he was certain that Eos was meaning something else about obtaining a demon by his side...

Either way, Xavier is here, writing down notes, doing his best to ignore his hunger. The sadness of forgetting about his lunch was slowly filling him up as time passes, having a mental reminder in his head on how he really doesn't have any friends to help him. It was a curse of how much a glutton he is, and yet, a blessing to have such fast metabolism. He would probably hate himself if he were to gain more than he would like to. Though now that he thinks about it, he really didn't put such an effort to make friends here. Xavier used to have a handful of friends when he was younger and mischevious but since Eos kept him home, it was hard to keep in touch with them and it was likely that they forgot about him. He can't remember their names anymore and for sure, it would be hard to recognize them since it has been years. He wonders if any of them ended up in the Academy.

Time passes and Xavier was surprised when the class reached to its end. He looked up at the clock and slowly wrote down tonight's assignment before packing away his notes. After lunch would be his combat class. He really needs to eat if he were to survive. Xavier bid his teacher farewell, like what he usually does, and left the classroom.

 

[Fume]

Dustin Summersdale​

The class was actually interesting for Dustin. While he wasn't that much of a fan in terms of attending the Academy, he had to admit, they did a good job in terms of explaining things, though there were some words that escaped him, mainly because they were complicated ones that could've been better spoken for others to understand.

Today's lesson was about the demon, Slime. He paid attention to it as the teacher put up a holographic image of a slime depicting it's appearance and spots that had been a theory of being his weak spots.

"Hmm... So blunt type attacks are heavily resisted. Either use a slashing or thrusting weapon to deal actual damage or attack his weakness which is fire type attacks. That's some pretty solid advice, if I have to say." Dustin murmured to himself as he noted down all noteworthy information down, with drawings and arrows pointing towards the details. It wasn't the most well detailed notes, but it was enough to get a general idea, while at the same time putting down scenarios as examples.

When the class entered it's break time, he lowered his pencil down and leaned back on his chair, looking around the place with a bored look. While he did look back at Phantom, wanting to know if she had the notes from pass classes, he just noticed that she only drew a gun towards a blob and noted 'Don't hit, just shoot', on it. He rolled his eyes before looking around the place. The students were chatting with themselves, sometimes giving a glance in his direction, or a glare if one looked well enough. He did saw that a student was still taking notes while listening to, what he presumed, music through his headphones.

He stood up, with his hands on his pockets and approached him. He was rather tall looking, but that didn't really bothered him much. He knocked on his table to catch his attention.

"Yo, got a minute? I'm kinda behind on the note department, since I came late. Since you're the only one that seems to taking this thing seriously, you think you could let me borrow your notes from past classes? I'll return them after the next class." He said while his tone was rather normal for once. He held back his delinquent side, because if he needed something, he wouldn't be an ass to ask for it.

MementoDei

 

[MementoDei]

Lento
​

He glanced at the person who had, again, interrupted him and took off his headphones to hear what he had to say. Lento sighed and took out four of his notebooks out of his bag. He put them over the corner of the table Dustin had put his hand over and looked him in the eye. "You do a scratch or leave any stain over them and it'll be the last time I'll do you any favours. Not that you'd need any more from a...twerp from this class. Really classy introduction, by the way. I'm flabbergasted."

Lento closed his bag and got out of the class for lunch break. As was his habit, he walked to the school's rooftop and sat to look at the town around him. Mochi got out of his COMP and sat besides him.

"Really classy favour-giving. I'm flabbergasted."

Lento rolled his eyes. "Come on, you saw how rude that man was. He's not getting anything more from me with that attitude."

"That attitude. That's also what you have." the demon continued as he took a small handful of Lento's rice. "It is not right to treat people unfairly because of your personal retribution. You lowered yourself to his level."

Lento poked the head of his demon, which made it giggle. "W-what?! How did you know I was ticklish there?!"

Lento patted softly Mochi's head and felt slowly his indignation subside as he watched his demon act like a child. Mochi was a strange demon. While it could give thoughtful advice, it also had moments like this where it acted unlike what he had expected.

Fume

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom sat up sat in her seat and when Dust made eye contact with her after his introduction, she gave him a sweet smile before it vanished and she had to bust out her notebook, with minimal notes, and her textbook. She had it propped open to the blob section, and had proceeded to slouch in her seat as soon as Dust sat in front of her.

Maybe if she was out of view, she wouldn't be forced to participate.

Thankfully, it was only a lecture to start and Phantom twirled her pen with her fingers after she jotted down the most important thing about the blob: don't hit it, just shoot it. Break was called, and at Dust's eyeroll at her notes, Phantom only frowned and shrugged as she continued to twirl her pen between her fingers.

"Mr. Ayelet to room 3C," The intercoms announced.

Her eye twitched before she stiffly stood up, gathering her stuff. "Fuck it's contract time I guess," She hissed under her breath as she stalked out of the classroom.

She quickly made her way down to the designated room, twisting her shirt in her hands. Then she stopped before the door, taking a breath before she busted the door open. Flashy entrance, why not.

"Ah, the chaotic one has arrived," A sandy-haired male professor greeted and he gestured to the small colony of demons playing about behind a window to see into a contained area, "Here are our chaos demons. Have at it."

Phantom awkwardly stood there, watching the demons play with a scowl before she made a step towards them, causing the door to open with a hiss.

Then a little paper spitball hits her cheek

She whips her head in the direction to see a long-legged little fellow floating sideways from the top of the doorway and she laughs.

"Nice legs," She said, trekking closer so she could stand directly underneath it.

It only tilts its head, floating a little closer to her.

"Daisy dukes," Phantom continued, "Makes a man go-" And she whistles, causing the demon to mimic the whistle before giggling and sitting on her shoulder, swing its long legs as it examines Phantom closely. "So, are we going to be a duo?"

A whistle in confirmation.

"A poltergeist, fitting you chose the deformed one," The professor commented.

"How about I name you Nox," Phantom says, ignoring the professor, "You cool with that?"

Another positive whistle before Nox settles into Phantom's COMP.

"Enjoy your break, Mr. Ayelet. Be responsible with your new demon."

Phantom, still ignoring the professor, swiftly exited the building and made her way to the lunchroom. "Well Nox, you like pranks boy do I already have a few targets to prank that I'll point out to you. I also will show you people I won't prank and-" A flash of red hair catches her attention, and Phantom stops. "Heeeelllllooooo," She whispers and she pushes through the crowd of students before tapping the guy's shoulder. "Well, if it isn't my former partner in prank crimes, Xavier!"

Late

 

[Late]

Xavier
​

He wasn't expecting anyone, and he means, anyone, to be touching his shoulder. Especially in the current state that he is in right now. The sudden taps on his shoulder without any warning made the teen whip his head around with a deadpan look. How dare this individual stopped him from searching for any scraps of food or at least a vending machine for snacks. Just how dare they. Though, when he heard his name, Xavier became confused once he got a good look at the student. He doesn't recognize them and seeing how they know him made Xavier feel awkward on what he was about to say next.

"Um...sorry, but who are you?" Xavier asked, his brows furrowed. They did say something about being their former partner in prank crimes but Xavier couldn't really recognize who the student is. Surely it must be a prank but it would be strange for someone to know how he used to do pranks when he was a lot younger. Maybe the strange individual was telling the truth, but he needs a name.

Otherwise, something is going to get eaten and it won't be his clothes. He did that once and it did not work out well at all.

Phant0m

 

[Heavengiver]

"Sephira-kun, help me put these away."

He merely grunts as he heaves himself off of his comfy chair and pushes the heavy cart of books to its intended location. Once he reaches the demonology section, the student lethargically scans the bookshelves for any open gaps.

"Why do humans have so many books?"

"Beats me. They like to read a lot, I guess."

"That sounds boring. This whole place is boring."

"Well, suck it up. You're the reason I'm here in the first place."

"I just wanted a nice breeze. The AC here is a travesty. And besides, you were skipping class. Maybe I'll whip up a storm here and ruin all of the books."

"Don't you dare, harpy."

His demon squawks at his threat. "You still haven't come up with a name for me?"

"If I give you one, would you stop complaining?"

"Obviously."

He stares up at the tall ceiling and heaves a heavy sigh. The ceiling fan spins around and around, and a metaphorical lightbulb goes off in his head.

"Kuru. Your name is Kuru."

The harpy tilts her head. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not telling you."

Suddenly feeling energized, Kei resumes his menial task. When the cart is finally empty, he picks up his schoolbag and exits the library. Class should be starting soon, and he might as well see what he had missed.

 

[Fume]

Dustin Summersdale​

He silently accepted the attitude, not that he cared that much, and got the notebooks. He had A LOT to catch up, it seems. Each notebook was noted down with everything noteworthy, with all the details that the professors had put down, from demonology, to all the way to math. He put the 'twerps' a few inches away from him as he opened his own, scribbling down all the notes, while trying to simplifying them as best as he could.

For math, he put down the formulas while trying to understand the example exercises that were previously put. For demonology, he opened a new page and noted down for both the demons, Garm, Pixie, Cait Sith and Cu Sith.

"Christ, they don't fool around with the lessons." He thought to himself as he was putting a few drawings, well as best as he could to drawn them. They weren't great, but it was close enough to the demons.

The other notebooks were for mechanical stuff. How to treat a weapon once chipped, how to disassemble a gun, general information about fusing demons and history of the past times. It was a lot of info to scribble down, however, not enough time to finish noting everything in this break with his current pacing.

Taking a break from his constant scribbling, he cracked his neck from the constant stress on it, and it felt good to him as he casually looked around, before looking outside the window. He was bored, very much so. He took a deep breath and continued with his task, he thought that he could finish this before the next class came about. He scribbled and noted everything that the notebooks held, as simple as he could and, 10 minutes before the next class started, he was finished.

"Fuck me, that took too much out of me..." He sighed as he stretched his arms and back. Too much information at once always took a tool on him. He wrote a note saying 'Thanks, really helpful for later', and set the notebooks back at the guys table, while putting the note on top. As he wanted, no stain or scratch on it.

"Hey, you think you could let me out now? I feel really cramped in here." Lilly spoke from his COMP, having a very boring expression on her face. He looked around and got into the corridor, before summoning her. He didn't have much magnetite, but once in a while shouldn't be too much to ask. She stretched her wings before hovering in front of him. "Wow... this place is huge!"

"Meh, doesn't seem that big to me." He responded before sitting down on a staircase nearby, before taking out another notebook. Lilly didn't seem that enthusiastic seeing another blank book with him.

"You're gonna write even more? That looks so boring..."

"This is different though." He responded before showing her that it was very different from the books from the classroom. "This is my general notepad, I write down stuff that need to be done. Kinda like a list, but I sometimes put lyrics here that come up on my head. But most of the time, it's just a training regiment that I put down for myself."

"Lyrics? You mean, you make music words there?" She was now interested as she sat down on his lap while looking at the notepad. It was filled as he said, with training regiments, but a few pages he did had 'music words' as she said. Some were rather good to her. "Oh wow! You're like an artist!" She said with her eyes glistering.

"Nah, these are terrible to anyone. I just write them down when I'm bored." He responded as he let her take a look at it. She was enjoying herself at least, so he didn't mind.

 

[CodeSpade]

“Will Valerie Crawford please make her way to Class 1A? Valerie Crawford proceed to Class 1A.” Huffing, Valerie pushed passed a couple of her wealthy and older classmates to the third floor. Making her way to Class 1A, Valerie paused, hand hovering over the door knob and she slid open the door to greet her Psychology professor, Mr. Shinjiro Aragaki. His slim figure was covered with a black suit. He was in his mid thirties and the blank look made his brown eyes seem black. Hair slicked back with gel, his entire appearance always creeped Valerie out since it seemed he was always prepared for death.

“Ms. Crawford, have a seat.” He gestured to the seat in front of him and with his other hand, he shifted for her file from a drawer filled with other files thicker than others. He soon found her file and lifted a brow at its unimpressive size. Valerie met his gaze head on and held said gaze for a few seconds before looking down in slight shame. Sighing, Mr. Aragaki opened the file and took out 6 sheets. He skimmed them with his eyes, occasionally looking up at Valerie, who was looking at her polished black loafers.

Humming, Mr. Aragaki spoke, “So Ms. Crawford,” Valerie looked up at the sound of his voice, “What allegiance do you believe you should be apart of?”

Gritting her teeth, Valerie said through her teeth, “The Law Allegiance sir,” Mr. Aragaki frowned, “I believe that with me as part of the Law Allegiance, I will be able to” Mr. Aragaki interrupted her there. “Ms. Crawford, I suggest you be honest with me. This information shared with me is confidential to the staff of The Academy and only The Academy.” Valerie shook slightly and her smaller frame seemed to curl in herself before she sat up straight.

Taking in a deep breath, she spoke, “I believe I am a part of the Neutral Allegiance.” Ending her position there, she kept quiet, feeling her professor’s eyes pierce into her. A couple of tense seconds passed by before she felt the stare of her professor move away from her. Hearing him hum, her eyes trailed to his face, “The Neutral Allegiance Ms. Crawford? Please elaborate.”

“I highly value my freedom and I understand that laws are needed to keep us in check but they shouldn’t exist at the price of our freedom. It’s just… wrong.” Hearing her professor hum again followed by rapid typing, she grew nervous.

“Very well Ms. Crawford, you are officially apart of the Neutral Allegiance. All newcomers of this school will be receiving their partners in 4-5 days." Valerie sat there shocked for a couple of seconds before scurrying away, not bothering to be dismissed by her professor.

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom raised her eyebrow, pulling back a bit at the ravenous gleam in his eye. "It's me? Phantom Ayelet. Oh!" She rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't recognize me, it's been a while and I've definitely changed my appearance. But-" She checked the time, "You're probably starving, you glutton. I'll see you later yeah? We can catch up hopefully. Have a nice lunch!"

Late

And off she went, shoving through the crowd and she snatch something small to snack on as she shoved against the tide of students until she stumbled upon Dustin and Lilly. "Oh! Shit man you startled me for a sec," Phantom giggled and her eyes lit up. "Oh! You guys can meet my new friend Nox!" Then she checked the time and blanched. "After the next class probably, we only got like a few minutes left." She fished out her schedule, frowning that she had yet to know it after being at the Academy for a few days, but then she grinned. "Oh I get to shoot my baby." She winked at Dustin. "You'll get to see how well my finger works," she snickered, "Or trigger finger for the matter."

Fume

 

[Fume]

Dustin Summersdale​

"Do I look like a bear to you woman? Sheesh." He said little amused at her comment before rolling his neck, hearing a pop loud enough for them to hear. "Ow... That actually hurt for once." He commented while massaging his neck with one of his hands.

"Hello! I'm Lilly! Nice to meet you! And this is Dust's notebook! Look how cool it is!" She floated around Phantom before putting his book in front of her with some lyrics.

"Gah! Lilly! No!" He quickly took it out of her hands. "This is private, damn it! Not a word, you hear me Phantom." He gave her a glare before stashing it into his pocket.

"You're so silly, Dust! Hello there, Nox! How are you today?" She asked before he whistled to her. "Huh, is that right?"

"How in the hell you can understand his whistle? Question for later..." He mumbled to himself before taking out his own schedule and saw that it was combat class. "Heck yeah! Let's see how well you can shoot, Lady Luck. While you shoot, I'll be slashing them left and right like a madman!"

"You don't look like one, more like a wild beast." Lilly commented nonchalantly to him, to which he looked at her with a deadpan face.

"Lilly... could you just... okay?" He gestured with his hands from her to him. She couldn't stop her giggle from escaping.

"I know, I know! You don't have to be so serious!" She floated up and down while holding her stomach.

"Just... Let's go to class, get our stuff and just go to wherever we need to go. I know jack all of this school, so now you're my guide hot stuff."

Phant0m

 

[MementoDei]

Lento​

He looked at the watch on his COMP and noticed there were only ten minutes to lunch-break and his next class was VR practice. Ketsumochi loomed over the screen and tilted its head.

"VR Simulation. What is that?"

"That is demon combat practice. Fairly safe since it's a virtual reality. No one gets really hurt. Except for their grades."

"Their grades...what is that?"

Lento sighed. "Just a way for the Intelligence Branch to tell who will be a good soldier later and who will not be. I don't want to be late, so please get back in the COMP, Mochi."

The demon looked at him for a while in silence and did as he was told. Once inside, it looked up at him rushing back the stairs and getting back to the room they were in before. The books he had given to the new student had a thank you note over them.

Lento raised an eyebrow, much to Mochi's surprise. Had Lento held a true Law alligiance, he would have sensed that his demon was smiling. There were only minutes left before the combat training and Lento lost no time to pack his stuff back, put his music on his ears and head over to the VR training grounds.

-----​

"Today, we'll practice a rescue operation. You'll form teams of three, given that there's 36 of you. That is the minimum number for modern units." Kei Nagano calmly explained. He had been one of his father's closest friends and the one who had given Lento the final push he needed to follow his passion instead of medicine. "The location will be the Shinjuku-Babel area. Each group will have to escort wounded civilians following a 3 kilometer route that will lead you to the nearest shelter."

The holographic screen showed the sinuous path the route was and many red dots signaled the presence of low-level demons. "You'll have access to summon a virtual version of your demons and the weapons you've practiced with. Of course, you'll be evaluated individually and the best of each team will be given a special task."

Lento could swear Kei had glanced at him and it only made his motivation grow. He had no reason to not be the best of any team he was in. If it were not for two other students, Lento would have been the top of his class in every class.

"Well, you have five minutes to make your groups the time I prepare the simulation."

Mikako Hoshida, a girl of sixteen with long raven hair and equally dark eyes, raised her hand. "Professor Nagano? One question."

"Go ahead."

"Will the students assigned to the Special Task have the liberty to choose their team as well?"

The man shook his head. "You will be assigned to others in a unit of six based on your strengths. Take the special task as a more realistic simulation everyone else can learn from. Units are not usually made out of old friends but rather of people with skills that complement each other."

Kei Nagano turned his back to Mikako and entered the simulation control room. Lento glanced at her and she nodded politely before turning her attention to another group of students. She was the second of the class and part of the few people who did not partake into the constant name calling he got.

Everyone looked to be forming groups fast and Lento searched for at least one other person to be teamed up with.

 

[Fume]

Dustin Summersdale​

"You gotta go back inside the COMP, Lilly." Dustin said as he pointed to his new device.

"Aw... do I have to?" She asked whining that she has to go back in there. She preferred to stay outside.

"Rules are rules. Even I need to abide them." He responded while casually scratching his scalp, he'd rather not want to tell her that it's for his own good.

"Fine... but can I spread my wings later?" She really didn't like staying inside that COMP.

"No promises." He replied before she went inside it. "Mainly because I have a limit supply oi magnetite. So I gotta use it sparingly, otherwise you'll be stuck in there for a good while until I find some more." He explained before he started to walk with Phantom into class, gather their things and move on. Dustin sometimes walked in the wrong direction with Phantom having to call for him to go in the right direction. He was unbeknownst heading into an empty class, which was designated as magic class.

-----------------​

When they arrived at the VR training ground, a few seconds late because of Dustin's part of going into the wrong direction, they quietly joined the students to not get caught. When he caught sight of the teacher he rolled his eyes.

"Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me..." He mumbled to himself as he wanted to get out of there and just skip the class, SPECIFICALLY, because it was the guy that caught him. "I think I'm gonna have a really awful time in this class..." He listened to the assignment and turned his head to Phantom. "Hey hot stuff, ah, I mean Phantom! Wanna pair up? Yo! We got a free spot here for anyone that wants to!"

"You love getting attention don't you?" Lilly asked while shaking her head.

"In this kind of business, I think it's a must. Otherwise they'll just go around like a headless cockatrice on trying to find a group."

Phant0m

 

[Phant0m]

"Fuck me sideways, it's that guy from the shop fiasco," Phantom said with a glare and then she muttered, "Do me a favor and give me that bullet I asked for." She shook her head and turned to Dust, smirking as she nodded and she gave a playful nudge. "Oh all of those nicknames for me are biting you in the ass now, huh?" She joked. She cracked her knuckles and briefly stretched her arms. "Sucks that it's VR, I really like to actually shoot my Sweeper." And no one is probably gonna take the spot so might as well.

Fume MementoDei

She noticed someone looking for a group and she gave a bright smile, waving him over. "Hey, we're open for one more!"

 

[MementoDei]

Lento​

He glanced at the female voice who had called him and he sighed. The new student was there as well and although he was rude, he had worked with dead weight before. It was just an assignment and, besides, he would still get the full marks for his individual performance. He walked towards the only group he could reasonably join without having to silence people right off the bat.

"Guess I'll take you up on your offer," he politely said and gave the young woman in a male uniform a nod. "I'm Lento Iten. Nice to meet you."

He ignored Dust completely and downloaded the map of the route they had to take. He zoomed in and looked in detail to the building layout of their surroundings. There were mostly the skeletons of tall buildings, perfect for harpy nests. Many other groups were still chatting of everything but the assignment, but he understood very well that their evaluation had begun the moment they were left to make groups. He looked at Phantom and pointed at the upper area of the buildings. "The path isn't very difficult, but we might have to deal with aerial demons right here. I don't have a bad aim, but if they're harpies, well, they're much more tricky to lock them in aim. I...don't know you very well, Phantom-san, but I hope you and I can have that covered while the other one can deal with whatever is on the ground."

He zoomed out and glossed over the other areas where there were red dots. "Hmm....the rest of the area seems too uncovered for any tricky demons to deal with. It's only VR, but we do have points assigned to damage taken, so I can use my kodama to recover part of your points. If they allows us to have a medical kit, well, I can use it as well."

An electronic voice gathered everyone's attention as the lights dimmed. "Students of class 6-A, the simulation will begin in 50 seconds. Look at your COMPs to have the team number assigned to you."

Lento noticed that the map he had on had vanished and was replaced with a grey screen where the number 6 was written on in white. The screens on the walls changed to display a table of the order on which each team would pass.

"Team 3," the computerized voice announced, "Please make your way to the simulation area."

The team made of the two top students and one Lento did not recognize made their way through the gates Kei Nagano had previously went behind. His team was the second one on the list. The gates closed and the photos of the three members appeared on the screen. Satoru Izuki, Mikako Hoshida and Ami Yasutora. The portraits shrank to a corner as a communication channel appeared on the corner on top of it and most of the screen was covered by a bird-view of the simulation. Satoru was a known kendo enthusiast and wielded a sword, Mikako was more of a mage and Ami wielded a semi-automatic rifle not that different from what he had himself. Their team balance was already playing in their favour, but he knew that both Mikako's and Satoru's competitive drives could make that apparent teamwork fail.

Phant0m Fume

 

[Heavengiver]

Kei's COMP rumbles several times as the tan-haired student hustles to the VR simulation room. He pulls out the device and glances at the big fat "8" with an annoyed frown.

"What's that for?"

"My group for today's simulation run. From the number, it seems like my group is one of the last ones to go."

"What exactly do you do in this simulation?"

"Depends on what they want to judge us on."

Once he reaches his destination, he is immediately hounded by two girls, sporting matching frowns. One of them has a split ponytail held up by a maroon ribbon, while the other girl has her blonde hair swept up in a side ponytail. While the yellow-haired girl glares at him intensely, the other girl merely closes her magenta eyes and looks away.

"I didn't think you would show up today! Now, we might actually have a chance," the blonde groans out, half relieved and half annoyed by their situation. The wine-haired girl nods as if to share her classmate's frustrations.

"Who are they?"

"The blonde is Tomoko, and the other one is Tsukasa," he whispers, not bothering to give their last names.

Kei shoots an apathetic glare back at his group. "You two would be fine without me."

"I'm afraid for this, that will not the case," Tsukasa retorts. "Tomoko is a defensive tank, and I can only support people. If it were the two of us, we would lack the firepower to make it to our objectives in time. If we want a decent grade, then we have to rely on you."

"That's right! I heard that you finally got a demon! Which one did you get?" Tomoko urgently asks. Kei shrugs and responds, "A harpy."

The two girls share a look of utter amazement. "Is this what they call luck, Tomoko-san?"

"I-It might be! No, it has to be! Sephira-kun, please!"

He blinks in confusion. "W-What are you talking about?"

"Just this once, can you give it your all?" they simultaneously plead. Kei looks away uncomfortably. This has happened before in the past, back when no one really knew him, but now, when he's infamous for slacking off, no one really bothers to ask anything of him.

"Sounds like they want to mooch off of our hard work. What a bunch of-"

"Kuru, silent," he barks.

"But-!"

Ignoring the squawking harpy, he heaves a sigh and relents. "Fine. Only because you asked though."

Kei intentionally turns away when his classmates' faces light up with hope. He knows how those two girls are. Despite their different personalities, both are hard-working students with a future ahead of them. Even though he doesn't want to put in any effort into anything, he doesn't want to be the one dragging them down.

It's fine if he's the one failing at his life. It's not fine if someone else is being dragged down with him, especially because of him.

"Kuru, into the COMP."

"I'm not getting out of this, huh? You better give me a show."

 

[Fume]

"Wow, guess I really did a good impression if he's going to flat out ignore me." Dustin thought to himself as he scratched the back of his head in irritation.

"Hey! We're part of your team too!" Lilly voiced out as she angry that this new guy just up and ignored them all together, even to the point of not asking for his name but saying 'other one'.

"Is fine, Lilly. I'm used to people like that. They aren't so different from regular ones." He replied to his partner, albeit quietly. Though his tone was displeased greatly. Getting out his notebook, he began scribbling down the map quickly and the red dots, it wasn't great but it was enough for him to understand it. He glanced at both Phantom and the other guy, taking closer attention to their weapons.

Since the map would be on Shinjuku Babel, and the walk would be for 3 km until the they reached the nearest shelter for the survivors, they would need to prioritize their defense as much as they could while keeping the people safe.

"Guess the three step group gotta do the trick." He mumbled to himself before he noticed that, despite the way being optimized there was an alternative route that could cut in the time, but the danger was even more. "Safety first, dumb ass. Don't just throw the team and civilians in harms danger to cut corners." He scowled in his mind as he kept thinking to himself other ways that they could pass the class with flying colors. Before he realized it, the speaker caught his attention.

"Team 6," the computerized voice announced, "Please make your way to the simulation area."

"Shit, already?" He mumbled to himself as he put his notebook back in his pocket. He followed his teammates towards a platform and they just stood there. "So how is this going to be? Or we going into a room to get in the VR world or are we just gonna-" Before he could say anything else they were sent into the simulation. "Bloody hell that was fast!"

"Help! Please someone help my child!" "I can't move my leg..." "This isn't happening, this isn't happening!" Turning around he saw the survivors hurt and what appeared to be houses burning by a handful of demons, mainly Garm's and Pixie's.

"Damn it! I'll be the vanguard! Don't let those fuckers get near the survivors!" Dustin sprinted forward, his sword materializing on his side and unsheathing it from his belt. "Get the fuck back!" He yelled to the survivors and he stabbed through a Garm that was pouncing at one of the survivors, skewering it before kicking it away from the survivors. It staggered up a bit before falling back down as a pool of blood started to flow from the exit point.

Garm, a hell hound with two tails, a crimson cloak, serpent blue eyes and fangs that could penetrate leather easily, it is always adorned with a spiked collar and a chain. It's classified as the Wilder species of demons, meaning that they are aggressive in nature.

"Since this is VR then I can probably summon Pixie. Come, Pixie!" He quickly typed on his COMP and summoned a Pixie. "Start healing the survivors! I'll give you cover!" He ordered as he was in between them.

"Dia!" Pixie got the order and started immediately to heal the injured survivors with it's healing magic. Meanwhile, three Garm lunged at Dustin, catching one with his sword and the other two hit his abdomen and left leg.

"No you don't!" He gritted his teeth and cut open the garm on his sword, followed with a smack of his hilt on the second one and a elbow strike on the third. He drove his sword on the second's head before grabbing the third one and applied pressure before jerking to the side, hearing a horrible crack from the Garm and then falling limply on the floor. The horde of Pixie's that were going around causing havoc and further injuring the survivors were being subjugated by Phantom and Lento.

"D-Dia!" The virtual Pixie was starting to be tired, repeatedly using her healing spell on the survivors and one time on Dustin.

"That's enough, Pixie! Take a break for now." He ordered the demon, to which she nodded before taking a deep breath to herself.

"B-but my child still needs help, sir!" One of the female victims pleaded to him, to which he pushed her off.

"I'm busy lady! I'm already trying my damnest to protect this side from the demons and my own demon can't use healing magic over and over again, unless you want us to die in the middle of rescuing your precious kid!" He argued to which he took a look around his surroundings and saw some of the survivors being trapped because of debris.

Phantom was engaging the Pixie's in a close quarters matter, getting close enough to point blank and shooting at them, while displaying a fair bit of agility by avoiding the attacks and popping a shot at their body or skull.

She did a back flip, kicking one of the Pixie's at the same time and shooting another in quick succession. She then elbowed another Pixie while shooting the stunned Pixie from before and ending her life. She kicked the 3rd Pixie to get some distance and used that time to reload. That fight was over, but Lento's was harder than the two of them.

2 Garm's and 3 Pixie's, that was indeed a hard opponent and yet he was faring well enough while protecting his own civilians. With his assault rifle, he filled one of the Garm's and a Pixie with bullets, afterwards he dodged a Pixie's strike and the Garm's Lunge, switching weapons mid dodging, he grabbed his pistol and shot the Garm and the Pixie in quick succession. The remaining Pixie got enraged and started to attack uncontrollably at him, but with a calm expression, he holstered his gun, brought his knife and stabbed the Pixie in the gut before taking a step back, retrieving his knife and slashing on it's neck, killing it effectively. Lento then casually reloaded his weapons and searched for a new target.

"Damn it... Still not good enough." Dustin mumbled to himself as he took a step back and took a deep breath, he saw that the horde was smaller, but if they took too long, the civilians lives were going to be in danger. "Damn it! Out of the way!" He rushed towards the trapped survivors all while Pixie's and Garm's were getting in his way. "You god damn... bastards!" He roared as he stabbed two Pixies through the gut and swiped the bodies away, a Garm lunged at him, but he clenched his fist and struck him straight on the face. Sensing that a demon was behind him, he put strength on his blade before spinning in place, hitting two Garm's and a Pixie at the same time.

"Protect!" His companion put up it's guard and took the blow of a Garm instead of Dustin. Seeing the opportunity, he struck down onto the demon and grabbed his demon, before his right shoulder was bitten by another Garm. "Dia!"

Feeling a familiar warmth on his shoulder, he let go of his demon and grabbed onto the latched Garm where he threw him over his shoulder to the floor before stabbing it with his Unknown Sword through the skull.

"I said... GET OUT OF THE WAY!" He yelled as he pointed his hand at the group of demons in front of him. On the palm of hand a fairly large fireball was formed before throwing it at the group. "Maragi!" An explosion rung out, and the demons that were struck only 2 survived, but their lives were quickly cut short by two slashes.

"Get the fuck up, or do you wanna die!?" He yelled as he picked the the debris with great effort and taking out the survivors from their certain doom. His Pixie was there to warn him when demons were approaching too close to him.

"T-thank you-"

"Thank me when you get the fuck back into the group! Help each out and fucking move it!" He ordered to which they nodded as they staggered to return to the group.

"Master! More demons are coming from the north and northwest!" His Pixie warned as Kodama's and Cait Sith's started to make their way in their direction.

"Damn it, we gotta go now!" He yelled at everyone, but before that he felt a tug on his right leg and he saw below him a boy, no more than age 7 pleading with silent words to help him. "Damn it!" He cursed under his breath as he put him on his back and started running back to the group. Two of the Cait Sith's noticed him and started to make their way to him.

"Protect the master!" Pixie was about to use her body to protect him, but he barked an order to it.

"Head to the survivors, use your healing magic 4 times on any one of them and then come back to me!" He yelled before he clenched his blade and intercepted one of the attacks.

"U-understood!" She carried the order and since they were in the VR she had to do so without complains.

"Phantom, New guy! Back me up here!" He jumped backwards as he avoided another attack. Shots were heard and one of the Cait Sith's that were on him were shot down, he parried the other demon and slashed it's head off. As he ran back to the group of survivors, he noticed that it was Phantom that shot his former opponent. "Thanks girl, you're one sharpshooter alright!" He complimented before dropping the boy down on the survivors. "Start heading in that direction all of you! There's no demons coming that way, so start moving before we're all going down!"

"Y-yes sir!" They complied immediately as they started carrying the wounded away, using each other as leverage.

"Pixie, fix the people that can't walk well! Then go heal either Phantom or the new guy!"

"Y-yes!" The Pixie was visibly tired, but did what was asked without skipping a bit.

"Oi! We gotta move! New guy, take point and cover me and Phantom as we back away slowly!" He yelled as his body was starting to ache from the over exertion. Still, this was the most amount of action he felt in quite a while. Phantom was a couple of meters away from him, taking aim on the demons that were closest to him. "Now this is where the hard part starts..." Two Kodama's came in close to him, he stopped them both, but a Cait Sith passed by him and was aiming at his right shoulder.

He was certain that he was going to get hit, but he had to deal with the Kodama's in hand. So, he ignored the demon and sliced the Kodama's in half, killing them quickly, but the blow from the Cait Sith was stopped by it falling on the ground with a bullet wound on it's head.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Take care of the guys that pass through me!" He laughed as he started to fight the horde of Cait Sith's, Garm's, Pixie's and Kodama's in hand. At first they were small in groups, nothing like Lento shooting them from afar and Phantom a few clicks away to finishing them, but as the group started to walk backwards even more, the rows of demons were increasing even more.

"Is there no end to them!?" Dustin thought to himself, before a piece of debris hit him from above. He looked up and saw the skeletal remains of a building looming above him and how it was deteriorated at one part. "That can work if I aim there... Phantom, sorry for this!" He yelled as he turned around and grabbed her. He pointed his hand towards the destroyed part and formed a fireball on his hand once more, all while the demons were rushing behind him. He could hear insults coming from her, while she shot inaccurately at the demons, while Lento took aim and took out some more demons that escaped from Phantom's bullet rain. "Agi!" He released the fireball and shot it at the looming building, destroying the foundation that supported it and letting it fall down onto the ground.

A dust cloud was shot into the air as the building crumbled down into pieces and crushing the horde into pieces at the same time. Though that way was now blocked.

"I really thought that wouldn't work..." He huffed as he let go of Phantom and put his hands on his knees, trying to take a break from the constant fighting.

Phant0m MementoDei

 

[Late]

Xavier
​

"Phantom Ayelet..." Xavier repeated to himself once the student left him alone.

It was familiar for sure but he was certain that the Phantom he knew was...well, a boy. He looked completely different from what he saw last time but it was already too late to ask questions. The clock was still ticking by and the time Xavier checked the time, he panicked. His next class will start in the next 5 minutes and he has done nothing to get anything to eat. Nothing at all. He gained nothing from that Phantom.

Xavier began to speed walk through the hallway which was slowly started to empty out now that classes were going to start soon. Fortunately, he found a vending machine near his next class and he could hear angels singing in his ears at the sight of the machine. He was quick to pull out change from his pockets and shoving them into the machine, scanning around the options he is able to pick before punching in the numbers. Xavier did the best of his abilities to be quick about it, however, before the snack could drop down, it got caught in the wire at the last push.

He was five minutes late to his class, apologizing profusely to his professor for causing a ruckus just down the hallway. Yet, it was all worth it for him as he had something to get by for the rest of the school day. It was without a doubt that he will eat anything there is back at his home.

 

[MementoDei]

Lento​

He guided across the garm's attacks. While the beasts were fast, and powerful, they were blind and practically no other sense but their hearing. Luckily for him, Phantom's and Dustin's ruckus was attracting them more than the occasional gun fire he used to take them down as they dashed away. But even that was not enough to keep the young children's screams from attracting one or another. That is where his Kodama came into play. As echo spirits, the Kodamas were believed to inhabit ancient trees. And that allowed them to change their size from the size of a box into the colossal height of a tree centuries old. There was plenty of rubble to throw around, miles away from the path they were taking. He barely had the time to glance at how his "team" was doing but it was clear as day that the only fights they had known were street fights. All that screaming and overuse of Dia would not hold for long against this simulation. For this reason, he stayed a bit behind to have a wider view of the situation as it unfolded. Not too far to be left behind by his teammates, but just enough so he could reassure the civilians he would protect them. That made their pleas for help and their cries subside and thus raised his grade.

Lento had never been outside Home 3, but he had heard the stories his father and other demon busters had come with. It was exactly like this, sometimes. No room to breathe, just wave after wave until either the team broke through or found the chance to retreat. But for any of that to work, they had to be a real team.

He mumbled a curse as Kodamas appeared all around, slowly but surely knocking his own down. Lento ordered his to revert to his small size and reloaded his automatic rifle. He risked to miss a lot from this cloud of small spirits, but he had to shoot before they all grew as large as his Kodama. What Kodamas had in size, they lacked in mental quickness when they were not controlled by a Demon Buster. Or so he hoped. Almost simultaneously, he heard the sound of an unsheathed blade whistle rapidly against the air. He instinctively stepped aside, but the blade of a Caith Sith had found the time to pierce his shooting hand. Lento made the blade go through painfully until he got a hold of the Caith Sith's hand and did not let go. The demon's cat eyes widened in shock and it hissed. He got out his handgun and shot it point blank through the demon's head. The demon's grip on its sword weakened and it finally let it go. Lento took out the weapon from his hand with a grimace. With his fingers trembling at the horrible sting, he picked his weapon again. The trigger was slippery with blood.

The Kodamas were closing in, some of them slowly forming bigger fists. He shot those right off, but just as he ran out of bullets, he heard a worrying shout.

"Phantom, sorry for this!"

Lento had barely the time to turn around to see Dustin charge a fire spell. He began to run away and ordered his kodama to become a giant again to protect the civilians around. The heatwave that followed just seconds after Dustin yelled 'Agi' pushed him to the ground and he rolled for a couple of seconds. The deafening crash of an entire building falling down and crushing the kodamas before they thought of even transforming echoed with a cloud of dust.

"Kodama, heal those you're protecting!" he yelled in-between coughs. He could see the shadows of the two other members of his team, but the ashen dust was stinging his eyes. Even for a simulation, Lento thought they could lay down on the sensory experience. He heard in the distance the Kodama cast Dia and that reassured him. The civilians were still alive. Had they stayed just half a mile further to the south, they would have been crushed. Kodamas were no the epitome of agility and that was even more so in their gigantic form.

He cleared his throat as he got finally out of the cloud of smoke. Then, Lento took a deep breath and looked at the burning foundation Dust's spell had left on the skyscraper he had made fall and back at Dust.

"Didn't know you had a talent for magic. Almost crushed me and most of the civilians you sent to take cover over here. But other than that, it's a good way to take a breather."

He took a closer look at his COMP, breathing heavily and feeling suddenly sleepy. That cursed Caith Sith had perhaps casted Dormina on him. Lento took out a flask of hydrogen peroxide from the healing kit he had chosen and poured half of it clumsily on his wound. Then, he wrapped the wound tightly in bandages before taking out a shot of antibiotics enhanced with a cleansing potion to cleanse the effects of most low-level demon spells. Without flinching, he plunged the special syringe down his left thigh. Lento could not tell what hurt more: the sting of his hand wound or the rapid effect of the drug he just injected on his body. It was the only real downside of those things. The painful heat that spread through his body. It made, for a moment, hard for him to focus on where they were on the map.

After a couple of minutes of quiet and a pixie's Dia, however, he was back to feeling completely alert. They were half-way through. He thanked Dustin for the healing and looked at the civilians. For the most part, they were good enough to walk, but there were five who had probably fractures that made them even slower. He perhaps had an instant immobilizing cast within the healing kit. That and diluted morphine would allow the slower ones to run as if they were not even injured in the first place.

"Five hundred meters north-east," he said, pointing at the opposite direction from which the building had fallen, "That's the harpy nest. Lua Pos are probably around that area as well. Based on the amount of demons we've faced so far, I'd expect them in the dozens. I have about five more reloads left for all my guns. I'd hope that we aren't forced to destroy violently the environment again to deal with those. Having that kind of fire power against Jack Frost would be optimal instead of wasting it on harpies. Phantom, how many bullets do you have left?"

Fume Phant0m

*****
Akemi Ōhashi
​

"The kid's got balls," she said as she watched Lento impale his hand to grab the Caith Sith into a cruel, fatal grip that deterred the others lurking around from attacking. "Definitely not the kind of move true law aligned kids would ever take."

"Lento Iten has been a fighter ever since I've known him," Kei Nagano coldly said.

Akemi raised an eyebrow and turned around to look at her subordinate. "You rarely speak of personal matters, Mr. Nagano," she continued with a vague smile, "Tell me, what kind of bond does a kid like him has with someone from your caliber?"

Nagano barely returned her look with a glance before he continued to watch the simulation. "I knew his father. A woman of your caliber can easily figure out even the tiniest details of what's left to know."

With a sigh, Akemi returned to look at the screen as the rest of team 3's simulation continued. "I suppose that's true, Mr. Nagano. It is obvious just who his father was. But that only raises more questions."

"You can satisfy your curiosity later, ma'am."

"And I certainly will. You've made me too curious," Akemi said before putting the audio of the conversation out to hear Lento subtly lash out at his team.

You are too similar to him, kid. Why would Tokugawa want you out of all the scum we have to choose from?

Akemi sighed and undid her ponytail to readjust it, looking away from the screen as she did so.

If I understand...no, when I understand whatTokugawa sees, it'd be too late. I don't think you're doomed yet, kid. Just do as bad as anyone would do in the special examination and go back with your career as a medic. It's the only way you'd save yourself....And whatever human remorse I have left.

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom shook her arm out of Dustin s grasp, her eyes warily glancing about as she panted. She checked her inventory through her COMP real quick and she reloaded her gun. "I'll have enough if someone," she glared at Dustin, "Doesn't fucking yank me around and I waste bullets."

And she scowled at the civilians. "And can it, all of you! If I hear one more complaint, I'm going to personally shut your fucking mouths. You keep your mouths shut about, suck it up and act like nothing is wrong. The weaker you look, the more of a target you are." Her eyes landed on the crying child and it quieted to a whimper.

She rolled her shoulders and wiped her eyes. "The simulation is fucking intense, this is looking like a fucking suicide mission. If this actually happens in real life, just." Phantom looked to Lento. "I have enough bullets and if I have to I'll focus more on long-ranged attacks." She looked Dustin over. "Any other tricks up your sleeve fireball? How are you holding up?"

MementoDei Fume

 

[Fume]

Dustin Summersdale​

"You learn a thing or two when you go around taking books when your younger... Not the skills that I've wanted, but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive, don't mean I like it though." Dustin's chest heaved slowly as he caught his breath.

"And I made sure we were far enough to drop that sucker up, I'm fine with an endurance test, but with that many I thought that it was the right choice at the time. Should've talked with you though, so my bad boss." He responded before touching his neck from the side, he was hit with shrapnel making a small cut, not enough to bleed though, but enough for him to display some fear at the contraption on the back of his neck.

He rolled his shoulders to see if they were fine, then his wrists, then his legs and when he took a step forward with his left leg a spike of pain caught him by surprise.

"Gah! Son of a bitch!" He knelled over to inspect and saw that a stray bullet had passed through cleanly on his lower leg. "Must've been a ricochet one or a misfire one from Phantom's..." He mumbled to himself as he took out his belt and tightened it above the wound to stop the bleeding, not too tight or he might just lose the leg and not too loose otherwise he could bleed to death. "Gotta ask Pixie for help later..."

He stood up and walked slowly to test it out, he could make do with a small limp, he then joined them while cleaning his blade with a rag that he usually carried on his pants.

"I'm not very good at magic, really. Best I can do is just three shots with 'Agi' or one shot with both 'Agi' and 'Maragi'. I tried using different spells, but these are the ones that I can use. I should've bought some elemental stones... They would've come in handy about now." He explained while being annoyed for not finding or buying some of those stones. "Phantom, besides using magic? I can cook the best god damn Karaage from a Cockatrice, seriously, find me some seasonings, nothing too much just a lemon, wheat flour, some garlic and a bit of white wine, some fresh Cockatrice meat, mostly the chest area, deep fry that shit then sprinkle some salt on top and you'll get the most water inducing deep fried food you'll ever have.

I can guarantee you, you will not regret that." He sounded really confident on his cooking, mostly because he was very familiar with the recipe and was craving some chicken meat for tonight. Once Pixie came back to his side, she was completely exhausted from the constant healing, the last one being from the leader of the band.

They started to walk, with his Pixie resting on top of his shoulder to maximize her resting. He would need to ask her to heal his leg in a bit. He stopped when Lento started to talk, informing them about the demons and potentially more of them around the corner to meet them in 500 meters away.

"I agree on you with the destruction, I seriously don't want a repeat on that. Though... I think we should do a detour. We COULD go straight to the finish line, but we'd be losing precious ammunition and civilians. I say we take the long game. We take the east path, it looks like it has less demons for us to mess around and it basically curves around the Harpies. We should have shifts with the civilians, one stays with them to assure their safety while the other two get up close and personal with the demons with melee weapons, that way we can save ammunition and manage our tiredness. Sure we won't get the BEST grade by doing this, but we'll at least ensure the safety of the survivors. What do you guys say?"

MementoDei Phant0m

 

[MementoDei]

Lento​

He had to repress a prideful smile when he heard Dustin call him boss and apologize to him. It was rare for people to acknowledge his leadership like that, let alone suggest any good strategy. While he grimaced at the idea to lose points, Lento could not deny that he was not in a team where he could show off in a one against a hundred. If he had been with Mikako and Satoru, it would have been a different story.

"Let me just check something," he said, sweeping down the route Dust had suggested to take. A smirk grew on his face as he pinpointed the location of a loot area. In the real world, they would never be marked, but in simulations like this one, they spawned randomly on the map."Well, aren't we the lucky ones? Let's take that path. We got a treat if we ever run out of ammo."

Fume Phant0m

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom twirled her guns before holstering them. "You had me at treat and ammo. I'm in," She agreed with Lento. She looked about, disdainfully at the civilians but she didn't notice any serious injuries on them at least. Phantom took a quick look over at Lento before she went to mentally assess Dustin and noticed his limp. "Oh shit," She said and she walked over to him quickly and she saw the wound on his leg.

"Dust, what happened to your leg there?" She asked as she knelt to examine it, "Oh shit, at least it's a clean shot. You good to move?" She looked over her shoulder to Lento. "Lento, you have something to clean a wound with?"

Fume MementoDei