Return of the Cards of the King, Part 1

"Finally! It took decades to locate the temple where the Almighty Torch is in, only to find that it's guarded by armies of Pro Slayers. Only the Chairmen of the Slayer Organization knows where the temple is. Also we had to wait for Flames of Destruction wielder's fire to ripen, and a suitable half demon to grow strong enough to even wield the Almighty Torch," Queen groans. "Also, we had to wait for enough demons -and therefore Cursed Power- to flood Earth for the half demon and the Flames of Destruction wielder to awaken."

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to recruit the half demon or the Flames of Destruction wielder, but Ace believes we can lure them to the Almighty Torch, where we need them to be, anyways," King explains.

"So who are the half demon and Flames of Destruction wielder, anyways?" Clover asks.

"Oh, I bet I know!" Diamond chimes in.

"I'm sure you do," King smirks as he turns to Diamond and nods. "We've met them plenty of times before. They are-"

Ace is interrupted when he jumps out of his seat, and stares at the wall to his side intently

"What is it, Ace?" King asks as he raises an annoyed eyebrow at his subject, trying his best to his mocking smirk.

"I…hear something…" Ace answers.

***

"Hey! Hey! What do you see?" Ralph frantically asks as he whispers into Ivy's ears.

"Shhh! Quiet, Ralph! I'm trying to listen in on their conversation!" Ivy snaps.

Currently, Slayer Renzu's Squad are stationed outside of the Cards of the King's Church. Ivy is using her zookeeper to position a pigeon outside of the Church's window, looking into the meeting hall of the Church. Ivy upgraded her Zoo Keeper to be able to hear and see through the ears and eyes of her pigeon, as well as disguising the Cursed Power pigeon as a real-life pigeon. Lycan is also using his enhanced wolf senses to listen into the conversation as well. Ralph is there for a lookout.

"Well at least tell us what they're saying?!" Ralph whisper-shouts as he grabs onto Ivy's shoulders and shakes her widely to get her attention.

This causes Ivy to yelp in surprise, which in turn, causes their pigeon positioned outside of the Church's window to peep.

"What is it, Ace?" King asks.

"A bird," Ace answers.

"A…bird?" King asks, trying to hide his mocking snicker.

"This pigeon has been staring at us for a while now. A bird shouldn't be watching us like this so intently," Ace explains. Ace then opens his eyes up wide and activates his Cursed Power Sensing, staring intently at the pigeon. "As I thought, this pigeon is made out of Cursed Power, most likely a Pro Slayer spying on us."

"Dispatch them for us, Ace, please," king yawns.

"As you'd wish, my King," Ace replies as he draws his bamboo sword and reinforces it with his light blue Cursed Power. "RAHH-HAH!" Ace shouts as he slashes his bamboo sword, slicing straight through the wall before him, -Ivy's Cursed Power pigeon as well- decimating the wall to bits in an explosion of dust, and causing Ivy to gasp.

"What is it?!" Ralph cries.

"Ace destroyed my pigeon…" Ivy explains. "We've been spotted!"

"What are you doing?" Ralph asks as Ivy constructs a hawk out of her medium green Cursed Power, scribbles down a brief note on a piece of paper, and hands it to the hawk's talons, which grabs the note and flies away.

"I'm sending a messenger bird to the Chairman," Ivy answers as she slumps to the ground, Ivy using her Zookeeper to take control of the hawk's senses rather than her own. "This information can prevent the extinction of humanity. Even if we go down, our efforts will not be in vain."

"Go down?" Lycan yelps.

"Lycan, use your wolf-strength to carry Ivy, I'll fend off whoever comes our way,' Ralph orders as he constructs a glowing golden bow out of Cursed Power, aiming it at the church ahead of them.

Slowly, Ace walks through the cloud of dust and rubble, his bamboo sword bared at the three Junior Slayers.

"Everyone else, you stay here," King orders with a smirk. "Ace and I will take care of this."

***

"So, you want to go on the Pyromaniac Mission, correct?" The Chairman asks me.

"That's right," I answer with a confident scowl and nod.

Currently, I'm standing in the Chairman's office, facing the Chairman who's sitting across his desk from me in a cozy looking office chair. Behind me, are Ella, Grover, Jamie, and Austin, who all wish to go on the Pyromaniac Mission as well.

"Alright, I'll allow you to go on it," the Chairman sighs, causing the four of us to cheer. "But only because none of the Assassins I've sent have come back alive, and after seeing your right against August and Winter, you look to be our best bet, Fūjin."

"Um…alive?" I gulp. Mikey…he may be a violent, aggressive ass, but I can't imagine him just killing people! Sure, Mikey may have been a little wild and accidentally killed people during his early Pyromaniac days, but...scratch that…I can picture it very will.

"So where is Mikey, anyway?" Austin asks.

"You will find the Pyromaniac-" the Chairman begins to say, but he's interrupted when a hawk swoops in through the window.

"Woah!" I cry as I duck and cover my head with my hands. The hawk then lands on the Chairman's desk, and -noticing the scrap of paper clutched in its talons- the Chairman reaches out and plucks the note from the hawk, holding it up to his face so that he can read it. Upon closer inspection, the hawk is glowing a medium green as if it's made out of Cursed Power. Ivy's Cursed Power.

The Chairman reads the note, muttering it aloud to himself, and when he finishes, his eyes widen. "Fūjin, head to Lucifer Church immediately!" The Chairman orders.

"Huh? Where's that?" I ask. "I haven't been here in a while, so a lot of things have changed while I was gone."

"Come on, I'll take you," Grover replies as he opens up a wormhole besides the two of us.

"What's the big rush?" Jamie asks.

"Slayer Renzu's Squad was dispatched to spy and gather intel on the Cards of the King. This note detailed from Slayer Shizen, recalls the Cards of the King's plans going forwards and that…they've just been spotted by Ace," the Chairman explains, causing my eyes to widen.

Ace.

The man who I've sworn to kill…is now attacking more of my friends.

"DAMNIT, I'M ON IT!" I cry as I leap into Grover's wormhole.

"Hold on, we're coming too!" Ella exclaims.

"No time, I've gotta rush!" I shout, as Grover's wormhole closes up behind me.

***

"Um…Ralph?" Lycan whimpers as King and Ace strut over to the three Junior Slayers.

"What?! Just go!" Ralph snaps.

"But-" Lycan begins to say, but Ralph cuts him off.

"I'm the reason we're in this mess, run away, I'll buy you some time!" Ralph orders.

Lycan nods weakly then turns around and begins sprinting away, carrying Ivy with him.

"Oh no you don't!" King booms as he slams his scepter into the ground. "Black Prism!" A transparent purple cube manifests around the three Junior Slayers, anc next, Lycan finds himself back in his starting position, as if he hadn't attempted to run away at all.

"Stay back!" Ralph shouts as he fires three Cursed Power arrows at Ace, who slices clean through the arrows, as if they're made out of butter.

Ace continues walking towards Ralph as Lycan continues attempting to run away, but with each arrow fired and each run taken, Ace slices through Ralph's arrows as King undo's Lycan's motions with his Black Prism.

"Damnit, how does he keep slicing through my arrows?!" Ralph cries.

"And how does he keep me from running away?!" Lycan grunts.

Once in front of Ralph, Ace then brings his bamboo sword above his head and stares down at Ralph, cowering beneath him.

"Any last words?" Ace asks. Before Ralph can even utter a peep, Ace swings his bamboo sword downwards, but that's' when I leap into the fray -last minute, like a superhero- and put myself in between Ace and Ralph, using my katana to block Ace's bamboo sword.

"Luis! You're back!" Ralph cries.

"Luis…?" Ivy asks.

"Hey, great timing!" Lycan exclaims.

"Luis Tramontana…" Ace says as he stares down at me from behind his bamboo sword.

"Ace…" I growl as I stare back up at Ace from underneath my katana.

The two of us need not to exchange any more words than our basic greeting.

We know what the other is thinking, just from the exchange of our blades.

Mine and Ace's blades struggle against one anothers for another moment, before I knock Ace's bamboo sword off of my katana. I then swing my katana dowards Ace, sending the blade of my katana flying towards Ace with my Extend-o-Blade. But before my Extend-o-Blade can slash Ace, he brings his bamboo swords up vertically and spins around, keeping my Extend-o-Blade at bay with his bamboo sword before spinning around to slash me. I counter with a slash from my own katana, our two attacks colliding, and sending sparks flying.