chapter 30

3° person P.O.V.

Above piece of heaven Elementary school, there were 31 people standing. It was quite the diverse bunch, with 1 dressed in a red yukata and having an eye-patch. From the other 30, half had glazed empty eyes, and the other half seemed anxious and bloodthirst, as if they could barely wait for the 10 minutes mark to come. You could even hear whispers saying 'two more minutes till I cleanse this place of pagans' and even 'saving these kids and sending them to heaven early is the best present ever'...

Yeah.

Truly disgusting people.

The girl in the yukata did not make any indication that she was hearing anything, as she was completely focused in a small magatama that she 'borrowed' not long ago from the Japanese pantheon. It was quite the good stuff as it allowed for some interesting abilities.

Most can't use it at all, but she was a special case. She could use any and all treasures and relics she got her hands on, no one knows why exactly but she could do it anyway.

She looked at the clock and saw that there were only thirty seconds until the time was up. She suppressed a sigh as she knew that if time was up a massacre would ensure, but not one that these idiots were looking forward too. She'd kill them all as she did not approve of the murder of innocents.

She was a thief, not a homicidal lunatic after all.

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As she was waiting the final seconds before a fight breaks out, by admiring her newest treasure obviously, someone finally showed up.

No sooner did the first one appeared the others appeared as well. There was Kuroka, LeFay, Emily and that man holding her future new treasure.

"Finally. I was tired of waiting for you guys to show up." Lugh remarked, getting up.

None of them seemed much happy about the situation, especially Kanda since he left his protection target to someone else to take care of. But he'd be damned if he was not more interested in defeating this girl that almost killed him a few days ago, that humiliation will be squeezed out of existence.

"Yahoo, finally fresh meat!" one of those exorcists screamed before running head first against the closest person to him. His arms got full of fur and his teeth grown to saw like things; his nails turned into claws and he got an extra pair of eyes, even a barbed tail that had a metallic sheen to it.

He was probably one of the ones more eager to face any opponent, it did not really matter who. He just wanted blood, blood, BLOOD.

His target was one of the girls, she did not appeared to have noticed him till it was too late as his claws went right through her neck… or it would seem. The Catch? There was no blood or sound of flesh being cut. Like he hadn't cur anything at all. His eyes widened, instincts telling him that there was obviously something strange happening.

That claim got proven seconds later when a feminine, seductive voice filled with amusement spoke up.

"Where are you attacking, nyaa~~" Kuroka said as the illusion of her faded to reveal that he was actually on the right side of the image that was cut down. The fake-Werewolf tried to turn and attack his opponent, however before he could have the chance, Kuroka moved her finger in a strange pattern and many symbols appeared surrounding the fake-Werewolf. With them, a sealing power surged completely locking him in that position to the point that he could not move a single muscle. Following that, she pointed one of her slender fingers, and from it a black flame filled with Youjutsu's power was released, covering the fake-Werewolf's body, consuming it completely.

All those around had no time to react as, while the sequence may seem like it took a while, it actually had not taken more than 3 seconds. However, the exorcists did not really care that one of their comrades died as they saw death itself as just a way to reach God. It was a gift and they wanted to share such gifts to as many people as possible.

Ignoring all this, Kanda reached out for Mugen. With one pull, he released it from its scabbard and took a stance while pointing it directly to Lugh. She, in the other hand, focused her entire mind in Mugen. 'It is beautiful' was what passed through her mind.

The others do not stay idle, either. Le Fay started chanting some spell that would take a while to execute, and Emily took out of a pocket one of the Death arena crystals. Though, she never got a chance to use it as Lugh released one first. Lugh was never the patient type and she knew that those bloodthirsty idiots would probably try and go after the kids on the building... if the fight took place here, of course. There was also an added bonus for the one that uses the crystal first so she took her chance.

She had one of those crystals due to she being an ex-Judgment member and them ways carried one or two with them.

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The field this time had a different appearance, it looked like a coliseum with many pillars all around them with all painted in a tone of red and white.

The monstrosities decided to simply transform with many shapes and forms appearing, if there was something of special note, it was that there were 5 balloon-man in this group that immediately floated to the air before anyone could stop them.

Emily immediately released her wings and went straight to those balloon-man. Her instincts informed her that they would be a headache if left be. She summoned her Trap of Argalia and accelerated using reinforcement magecraft to go as fast as she could. It would be a battle against time for her as she knew she needed to go and help to defeat Lugh as she was most definitely the biggest danger in this place.

Kanda did not wait (or want) for any support, he was independent and considered himself as on his own side, the others being inconsequential or extras.

He dashed towards Lugh with his highest speed, not even caring much about those enemies he passed by. One of those, a monstrosity with rocks covering his entire being and his eyes glowing a strange green light, managed to stand directly in front of Kanda's path and he wanted to use his superior physique to constrain Kanda enough for the others to kill him.

"Useless."

That was all Kanda said before veins spread around his eyes and his pupils turned into three dots (writer's note: NO, this is NOT Sharingan). After that, his speed and power dramatically increased, like a super soldier on steroids. With one swing of Mugen, the body of the Stone man was cut in two equal halves without any hassle. The creature gave a dying moan as its life vanished from its eyes. Kanda did not even slow down due to it. The only reaction of his was calling that techniques' name "Ascending Flower"

Ignoring the others around him, his dash was even faster, so fast that most others could only recognize him as a blur. In less than three seconds, he appeared in front of Lugh and made an overhead strike aimed at bisecting her, however she raised her own sword to meet his. The clash that followed? It erupted like a volcano into an intensity that forced him back as his sword was repelled.

Lugh simply gave a small smile as she admired this reassure of hers, Hrotti was truly a wonderful blade.

Kanda did not seem to care one bit about the fact that he was pushed back, on the surface at least. Inside, however, he wanted nothing more than to win and seeing himself being thrown back that effortlessly? Whelp, that was beyond irritating. Part of him imagined that kid Castiel laughing at him for how easily he was knocked back, he would beat him up later. He concentrated his energy on himself to get ready for this fight as he knew it would be quite a close one.

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Meanwhile, those empty humans were being led by two monstrosities, one with a body full of scales and a third eye on the middle of the forehead and another one with a body with half on pure fire, and the other half with pure ice covering it.

They were heading straight to the small blond girl in the back. She did not seem like much, her power felt like around high mid-level at the very most and she was mumbling something the entire time.

Believing that victory was assured, they went to eliminate her at once, and at that instant, the chanting ended.

"Aberrant magic, Destructo." With a move of her hands, she liberated many small balls of blue that seemed completely non-threatening. They were all sent towards those going towards her and those empty humans all ignored it as they didn't feel like anything more than a low-class attack.

It is true that it was low-class magic, the type that anyone could learn easily. What NOBODY could have known was the amount of fine control necessary to combine multiple low-class spells as she did.

Combining water with high amounts of pressure, turning what should occupy 2 m³ to 10 cm³, was not an easy feat. Especially if the water is then heated to over 300°Celsius.

Now a question, what would happen if some water that is under high temperature and pressure suddenly lost all said pressure at once?

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

An explosion, that's what.

This was one of LeFay favorite magic's that she developed with Rin-sensei's help (she must never let Rin know that she developed many personal spells based on anime, they just have so much imagination for possibilities, this one is based on a Magi's character named Titus).

This magic was very easy to cast and cost very little, to the point that she spent less than 3% of her magic reserves to reach a result that normally would request many times more.

Now, the numbers against her were just 8 empty humans and those two monstrosities, is that the one with elements on the body was not affected, while the one full of scales lost one of his arms and the left eye. This had been due to him being too close to one of her spell bombs.

Now, to finish them off. She knew she needed to go support Kanda-sama and Emily-sama in their fight against Lugh-sama.

Time was of the essence.

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In another point of the battlefield, Kuroka was facing off against the rest of the 6 of the monstrosities. She would like to say that it was going fine and not hard at all, but that'd be a lie.

She first tried a trick using youjutsu to release a cloud of miasma with the objective of weakening them all, but one of them that looked like a skinny being with barely any meat on him... sucked it all and absorbed it instantly.

How the hell did the Iscariots develop a monstrosity capable of eating energy like that was beyond her, and she honestly never wanted to find out.

The others were not idle, either. One of them that had developed a giant arm and the back hunched with a strange glow to it, advanced towards her and used his hand to try and give a punch straight at her. Kuroka managed to jump upwards above him in such a way that she avoided said strike, a good decision as the instant that the strike hit the ground...

SIZZLE

...The sound of melting could be clearly heard as the ground was both pulverized AND reduced into a pool of acid goo. Her nostrils flared with distaste at the smell coming from it, but she suppressed those thoughts for the time being. She also noticed that the hunch on his back got a bit smaller, though it quickly began growing to its former size again.

It was probably something that constantly produces acid that was released by that arm in contact.

'Approaching him is bad, Nyaa~~' was what passed through her mind.

Other two of the monstrosities approached her as well. Both had small legs and arms, but a really big torso with no head but eyes and mouth in there. The only real difference was that one was red and the other was all blue (Writer's note: pun with One Piece unintended). Both of them had giant maces charged with the light element and, as they took a mysterious pill before advancing, their bodies were brimming with concentrated light power comparable to low ultimate-class.

They both tried to launch a devastating attack by swinging their maces towards Kuroka, but she managed to put up a barrier in front of herself so as to not be wounded by them.

CRACK

Even if her barrier was strong, sadly for her it could only resist for a very short time, though it was enough for her to get away from those two. They exceeded her largely when it comes to pure brute power. Not only that but those two maces were vibrating at extremely high-speeds making them eliminate what was around much faster.

It would be problematic, but not so much that it would be impossible to deal with. She was strong after all, strong enough to be the head of one of the divisions in the Tower after all.

The only one that did not do anything was one full of pores all over his body. He was looking in the back, waiting for a perfect opportunity to complete his objective.

Kuroka opened her devil wings (she WAS a 'stray' devil after all) and took flight. She was not that good at it but at least she could go up enough to not be overwhelmed. She took a deep breath and started using her senjutsu to connect herself to the flow of life energy around her. She then took out a small mystic code with some roses on it, it was a personalized mystic code she had developed while thinking about how to better use her senjutsu.

The idea came from a show she watched some time ago while lazing around after a passionate nigh… okay, a full week of non-stop sex with her boyfriend (and it was not even their mating season). It was a simple but very interesting idea, it just came to her that if she is connecting herself to the flow of life energy around her she might as well use it in a more direct approach.

And what is the best way to use excessive life energy? Make plants grow of course.

By directing the life energy around her to the mystique code she managed to make a small seed in it to grow. It started small, looked like a small and simple garden plant.

It was anything but that.

Quickly, it started to grow and grow till it turned into a big man-eating flower that dove directly towards the first target. The skinny one that could absorb magic. He was the most troublesome as he would interfere with most attacks she could release as he would simply suck it all.

The flower had a radius of 2.5 meters and was a particularly special species that internal acid could dissolve almost anything. It was found in some of the more desolate parts of the underworld, surrounded by small mountains of bones.

As it descended towards the skinny one, he did not seem to be bothered by it as he was swallowed whole by the plant. Thinking that it was over, Kuroka decided to aim at some other one, but she could not move her mystic code as she felt an anomaly in it.

When she looked at it more clearly she realized what was the problem, that skinny one was eating the flower from within. The plant was losing vitality faster than Kuroka could replenish it making it so that it started to wither and die even as she pumped more life energy on it.

"This is bad, nyaa~~" Was what Kuroka said as she felt that those others that were approaching. She got no choice but disengage her mystic code when she saw that one with the giant's arm closing in reading a punch.

That mystic code of hers disengaged of the devouring flower and it almost instantly got itself eaten by that skinny man. He really was a bad match-up for her, most of her attacks depended on either youjutsu, that he could devour, or senjutsu, that he also could devour. Probably just close combat could affect him, but she was not proficient in that at all.

Her Shirone could deal with him better than her, not that Kuroka would ever let this man get anywhere CLOSE to her little sister.

If he tried, then out came the claws and away would his head go.

When she was starting to despair, a flash of light passed close to that man, followed closely by Kanda that was swinging his sword at anything that appeared in his path.

CUT

The enemy that was troubling her so much, the one that she did not know how to deal with, died just like that.

Kanda did not even notice him as more than a thing on his path, so he cut it. No looks to see if it was dead or not, just impatience to get to Lugh as fast as possible.

Seeing this, Kuroka did not know if she should laugh or cry. In the end, compatibility is just that important in any fight (writer's note: just putting it here so that no one thinks I did something too stupid, this is a battlefield and getting shot in the back when you are not paying attention is normal. Also, compatibility is important, imagine a man that is the best CQC expert fighting someone that can fly higher than he can jump, no matter how much stronger you are the one with a natural advantage has an advantage).

No matter, now she had to deal with just three of this monstrosities and be done with I… at that instant she felt something. As she was deeply connected to the flow of life in there she clearly felt something akin to a taint in those empty humans facing Le Fay.

They felt quite close to the energy signature that man in the back with pores all over his body was releasing. If it was like parasitic beings she faced before, she had to move fast so as to help LeFay. She clearly felt that there were three signatures for each of the empty humans and if she is not fast to deal with them they all could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

"I hope the others can hold on till I can go to assist them, Nyaa~~"

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Emily was not happy.

She was not happy... PERIOD!

She managed to deal with the first of those balloon-man very easily. He was weaker, slower and could not maneuver nearly as well as her.

The problem is that the other five did not wait for her to deal with them, immediately fusing into one single creature. It had no legs, big arms with five very dangerous claws, a barbed tail, the torso were fused with what the head would be with a big mouth on the belly that looked a jagged saw instead of teeth. Its whole body looked like raw meat and it had two appendices on the shoulder that worked as two large shields.

But, the most troublesome fact was that its whole body had many small fake eyes that could release light beams, and they all were aimed at her. The good side: she clearly felt that its energy was dispersing faster than it could replenish, meaning that this form was limited at best and probably would either kill or wound those monstrosities when it was over, regardless of what she would do. The bad side? She could not wait that long, she needed to go help Kanda before Lugh started taking him seriously or he could die.

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LeFay was not having an easy time either. Her enemy was mostly those empty humans, they may not seem like much but the difficult part was that they were focusing on highly destructive spells.

She could defend up until a certain point against them, redirect their attacks and counter them, but there was a limit due to the number of attacks aimed at her.

There was a total of 8 of them, and they learned their lesson. While before they were tightly packed together, making them a good target, now they spread out to attack her from many angles. Even when she managed to get one strike right she ended up facing a wall of either ice or fire

At least she managed to deal with that one with scales and a third eye. He was releasing some energy beams from his third eye, however, she had managed to defend herself even if barely. She would have been overcome if not for that flash of light, that was most likely Lugh-sama using her speed, followed by Kanda-sama that cut that one in half before he could even react as he was moving too fast and came from a blind spot.

She would have to properly thank him later, but right now she must focus on one thing: how to deal with these ones in front of her.

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Bao was waiting, he must wait till the perfect chance as he knew that he was the 'weakest' of the ones in here, but he must complete his mission.

He suddenly saw a flash of light pass through his side. "What was th-"

And that was the last thing he thought before being bisected in half by Kanda.

"Stop running and fight me." Kanda screamed in absolute fury. He only got that first strike before Lugh started running around the battlefield.

He did not want to lose sight of her, she was HIS opponent after all. If someone should defeat her in here is he and he alone… or so were the thoughts flowing about inside his head.

However, there was no progress in the least, as all she did was run and run, going in the middle of the others battlefields and putting him in the path of some of those other flies.

Losing his cool (not that he had much of it from the start) he released a technique of his.

"Triple illusion!" And with that he tripled his speed, quickly reaching Lugh.

She looked surprised seeing this as there are very few that can reach her speed. Kanda went to a stab directly aimed at her body, but Lugh managed to put Hrotti in the way.

SMIRK

Kanda knew she would do that, he never counted in that attack connecting in the first place. Instead, he took advantage of that instant to use his left leg to kick her. She coughed up some blood and was sent flying away.

Why did everyone was saying that he needed back-up anyway? He was clearly strong enough to deal with her.

And that was right, in personal power alone he was her match.

In personal power that is.

She got up and dusted her clothes, not worried in the slightest that she was wounded.

It was just the start after all, and she still had much to use.