The First Call
-... Sa-asuke!
Snap.
-... He's not the Boogeyman. He's the one who's sent to kill the fucking boogeyman....
Snap.
-... It's great to be alive!
Snap.
-... They're space, r-r-r-y-y-y-y-y, parasites, Morty! They crawl into your memories and--
Snap.
Ichika flipped through the channels on the TV one last time and turned it off with a sigh. She burrowed deeper into the thick blankets and closed her eyes with boredom. It felt like the will to live had been sucked out of her.
In the last few days, her previously incredibly active life seemed to have slowed down dramatically. Akeno-sempai began to devote less time to her lessons, and Valerie only called her once every two days for training. And it was all because of the President's incomprehensible moping.
She was used to Emeric usually being the one to initiate any activity. He would meet her and ask her about her progress, not forgetting to flirt often, to the envy of the other girls. This provoked the jealousy of Valerie, who mostly intervened with her barbed remarks. And Akeno was the closing act, giggling on the sidelines and stealing discreet kisses from Emeric while she and Valerie fought amongst themselves. Add to that equation all sorts of supernatural tricks she'd memorized, a dragon at heart, and you get Ichika's new unbelievable reality.
The president often told her the most incredible things about the other world, some funny stories from life, and just to cheer her up. It was his support that prevented not only her, but as it turned out, all the others in the entourage from being absorbed by the same everyday life. Unforgiving and monotonous days that simply sucked all the life out of ordinary schoolchildren. Emeric was the spice that kept their entourage from getting bogged down in the routine.
And now that very "point" was himself mired in some form of obsession. He was skipping classes and practically occupying the club room, where he was watching the games of some champion of the Ranking Games. Judging by Akeno and Valerie's concern, such behavior was very uncharacteristic of their usually active king.
In general, the whole occult research club had not been in the best of moods lately. Emeric's behavior was affecting the people around him too much, so everyone felt the sudden change in his behavior.
You can't tell what he's trying to accomplish. Maybe he's paying such a peculiar tribute to his idol? Or is he healing his wounds? It's unclear...
«Boring... - Ichika moaned into the pillow.
What is she supposed to do now? There was no desire to train alone. Valerie and Akeno were busy taking care of the obsessed President. The lessons had long since been done...
«What?" Ichika gasped in surprise, listening to the unfamiliar sensation.
As if in answer to her prayers, some form of summoning from beyond formed in her mind. Supernatural and otherworldly.
«Someone is urging me on!.... - She muttered her conclusion.
Someone is using her personal summoning seal, which all demons by profession are entitled to. But how? It's not like she hasn't fulfilled a full contract yet. Wait! She's--
«Irina! - Ichika jumped up from the couch.
She gave her personal seal to her childhood friend, just in case! Given that she was an exorcist, it was likely that something really important had happened!
This means that Ichika must rush to her friend's aid right here and now! It doesn't matter what her occupation is, if Irina is in trouble, she must come to the rescue!
Ichika sighed, listening to her inner sensations. A metaphorical rope that was pulling her somewhere far away from here. Just need to 'pull' on it and....
"Partner! Move aside!"
A cry from deep within her subconscious and new instincts allowed Ichika to instantly bounce to the side, opening her wings in flight. In the place where she had appeared a second ago, spears of light were immediately thrust into the air, the number of them inspiring a healthy amount of apprehension.
«Reinforcement! - A thunderous roar from the gauntlet she had immediately summoned announced the entire surrounding space.
Ichika appeared in the middle of a large, abandoned building, perhaps a former factory. At the other end of the building were what appeared to be roaming exorcists armed with lightsabers and pistols. Despite their current affiliation with Grigori, though that was supposedly irrelevant as well, those still wore crosses around their necks. In the air above them planned fallen angels, not the strongest, one or two pairs of wings that nevertheless began to re-form their spears of light.
«Shit!...
«Welsh is here! The information was correct!....
The aforementioned Vallian shifted her tense gaze to "her" side.
Izaya just nodded, "summoning" swords with different properties into his hands. In one hand was a sword that glowed with fire, while the other emitted a dark aura that seemed vaguely familiar to Ichika. It was obvious that the only male exorcist immediately recognized her as an ally and didn't bother to show off. The situation didn't allow it.
Zenovia similarly shifted her stance slightly to consider another ally to watch her back. Ichika supposed that this exorcist might be against her company, but didn't actually say a word. Just gripped her Excalibur tighter.
Her gaze jumped to the last person in the room, who was smiling embarrassedly at her. Irina, to Ichika's delight, was almost intact. She was holding her katana, which was apparently a form of Excalibur, and was hastily covering a wound on her shoulder. The wound wasn't too deep, but some amount of blood still stained the form. Most likely this blood along with the subconscious desire had activated the seal!
«I'm sorry, Ichika... - Irina smiled slightly awkwardly at her.
«Nothing," Ichika shook her head. - Я... I'll help you!
«Does your king know? - Izaya raised his voice, not taking his intense gaze from his enemies.
«Um... - She started looking around in a panic, as if her king was watching from a hidden corner somewhere right now. - Uh, no.
«I see." Izaya just nodded at that, indicating that he accepted the information, but still had nothing against her help. - You've fought exorcists before?
«Reinforcements!
«No," Ichika stretched with pleasure against the complex reinforcement, which was giving her more and more confidence with each passing second. - But I won't be a burden, don't worry.... HA!
With a battle roar, Ichika sprinted straight towards the roaming exorcists running towards her. She was woefully inexperienced, she'd only been training for over a month, and it was the first time she'd ever fought "reasonable" humans. But that wouldn't stop her!
In a recent battle against a wandering demon, Ichika learned the very basics. There is no room for uncertainty or procrastination in battle.
She was a dragon! They're the ones who should be afraid of her!
In a practiced move, Ichika dodged the holy sword at the last moment, which stung her skin slightly. It was a dangerous weapon, she realized, the kind of weapon that killed most demons. But Ichika was no longer the same!
With a swipe of her gauntlet, she struck the unnamed enemy in the diaphragm. He flew slightly from the force of her blow, and then landed a few meters away. Unconscious.
The other exorcist at the same moment began unloading a clip of his consecrated bullets in her direction.
Ichika's pure combat excitement and newfound confidence prevented her from panicking. She began to duck and dodge the trajectory of the shots, thus preventing any of the bullets from hitting her. Another time she might have been surprised at how tough she'd become, but not now.
Almost automatically, without requiring her conscious orders, she moved closer to the next opponent. Knock out the gun, breaking the hapless man's wrist in parallel. Without listening to the cries of pain, hit the jaw, breaking it and rendering unconscious the next enemy in the way.
"That's right, partner! You are not a victim! You're a predator!"
The dragon in her soul was filled with pride at the success of her new host. It was at times like this that he forgot, even for a second, that he was a prisoner inside the artifact. Deprived of freedom and choice. Just an individual who was genuinely pleased at the successes of others. A month ago, Dryg had even feared that the fiasco with the Fallen might kill the fighting spirit inside Ichika forever. Make her weak and timid, but he was glad he was wrong. There was something incredible about this girl, despite the emptiness in her cauldron. A drive that could take her to the very top!
The blue-haired exorcist maneuvered skillfully between the light spears flying at her. The blue-haired exorcist maneuvered skillfully between the light spears flying at her. In moments of respite, while the rest of the fallen created a new portion of their projectiles, she stuck her huge Excalibur directly into the concrete of the factory, and after numerous cracks were formed on the floor, with a swing she sent the entire resulting "mass" of debris in the direction of the fallen. It was this technique, along with her dodges, that allowed her to take all the attention of the fallen while the others were dealing with the masses on the ground.
Ichika clenched her fists with rage, remembering how a bunch of weak fallen nearly killed her. They wanted to take her heritage because she was just fodder for them.
It will never happen again!
Ichika suppressed her cry of frenzy so as not to attract the attention of the fallen, and spreading her wings again, flew straight for the nearest enemy while those were occupied by Zenovia.
She was already close to the limit of her body that would not allow her to "strengthen" even more, but she didn't care. She had seen her enemy, and she would not back down again!
At the last moment, the fallen man managed to spot her and even raised his spear to meet her, but...
«Reinforcements!
With her gauntlet, she met this magical weapon as if she hadn't noticed. In a second, the holy spear exploded into hundreds of shards, not preventing her highly charged strike from meeting her opponent.
«AAAH! - Ichika put all her emotions into that punch and sent her opponent into a brief flight.
He, already with numerous broken limbs, did not even manage to make a sound. Having lost consciousness, the living "fallen" projectile flew straight into his closest comrade, who could not stand such a mockery of himself. The two fallen, thanks to her blow, flew straight into the wall of the factory and broke it with themselves.
Ichika couldn't know how they were doing, but something told her that those in this battle wouldn't get up again.
«Wow... - Zenovia's respectful gaze intensified her inner pride to the extreme. - You are not as simple as you seem, Heavenly Dragon...
«Hmm," she smiled back at him giddily. - You haven't seen my "crowning" trick yet.....
Respect has been joined by apprehension. And for good reason, this technique works perfectly on women.....
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