---

---

"...multiple diagnoses of stress-induced hallucinations. But some experts don't believe this accounts for the shared details between many of the claims, such as those who have reported seeing fictitious creatures such as Youkai..."

Miyuki watched the news on her phone as she sat at the tiny table in her diminutive apartment, and ate her small bowl of rice with a little cup of miso and a few cucumber slices. Her glasses magnified the bags under her eyes as she slowly chewed, and tried to force the fog clouding her brain to clear. She still hadn't been able to sleep well, presumably because of stress, even though she didn't have classes or work today.

Maybe it was because she was dreading getting that call soon.

Her hand itched. It had been like that all morning, for some reason. But, as she rubbed it against the front of her jacket, she was grateful for a little distraction.

Today was shopping day. Miyuki's boots clomped along the bustling streets as she walked, unconsciously favoring the side of her irritated hand. She only had to make one real stop, a department store with floors for groceries, electronics and gaming, and books, the only things Miyuki ever really cared about buying unless circumstances forced her hand. It was close enough that she didn't need to take a train, although it was a long walk. Especially if she ended up buying a lot. Obviously she would visit all of the latter before the former, but she needed to watch her budget otherwise her bag would be too full by the time she got her foodstuffs and cleaning supplies...

Something tickled the back of her mind. A feeling like when she sparred in the dojo with other kendoka--like an opponent sizing her up, trying to read her techniques. Gulping, she turned, and for the first time noticed that she'd come to a part of the sidewalk that seemed eeriely empty, as if everyone else had instinctively avoided it. There was a small business of some kind here, but it wasn't open yet and no lights were on inside. Between this building and the next was a narrow alley, half-filled with vending machines for juice and snacks, and further back the aroma of garbage bins wafted up over the street.

Miyuki breathed in through her nose, and tugged her scarf tighter as she stepped past the alleyway. Something knocked over the plastics bin, scattering bottles and packages down the walkway.

Maybe it was...a stray animal?

The sudden thought of a cute puppy or stray kitten rummaging through the recyclables caused the stray hair atop Miyuki's head to shoot straight up like an antennae, as her cheeks flushed and her eyes filled with stars. She stepped into the alley, past the vending machines--

And immediately felt as if she'd stepped into the training hall, and even heard in her mind the sound of the doors slamming shut.

Before her, standing at only three, perhaps three and a half feet tall at the most, was a pudgy yet muscular creature with a disproportionately bulbous head. The beast had horns, fangs, and pointed ears, and carried a club that looked like it'd been carved from a tree.

"Gyagyagya!" the creature howled, its eyes locking onto Miyuki with clear rapacious intent, and it charged! The girl screamed as she stepped back, putting out both hands defensively--

And the back of her palm suddenly blazed with blue fire. The goblin drew up short, cowering behind its club as if it feared the light.

The haze in her mind cleared. Everything--the dark ocean, the strange room, a mysterious figure with an enormous book and an ominous message. Everything rushed back to her with crystal clear focus. But the flames seared into her palm and then died, leaving behind only a branded mark as if it had been tattooed there.

"Wha--are you? Is this...What they meant?" Miyuki gasped, sweat beading on her brow. The goblin, seeing that the girl's magic had faded, snarled again and leaped with its club at the ready!

"Ah!" Despite years of training, in this moment with no weapon, all Miyuki could think to do was scream for her life. "SOMEONE--!" Papa! "SAVE ME!" Please!

Amidst the dark, a maiden's voice rang out. A ripple of light passed through shadows. The mark was recognized. Many dark tongues began to utter. But, first of them all...

A blood-red hand raised in recognition.

"Ah shall hulp thee, wee lassie. Ca' oot mah name."

As an unheard voice whispered in her ear, Miyuki's eye's snapped wide open. She fell back, tripping over herself, but in the process dodged the goblin's swinging club. Her rear end hit the concrete, and so did the weapon, sending up a scattering of dust.

Sitting up one one knee, the girl held up her hand, turning its symbol towards the beast. She took a deep breath.

"LHAM! DEARG!"

"Gyagaaaaah!" The goblin brought its club down once more. It would break open this human's skull and drink her blood! Even as dark tendrils of writhing power opened up beneath her feet, its fanged smile leered--

Then steel rang against wood, knocking the malodious creature backwards.

"Pugyiii!?"

Miyuki's glasses threatened to droop down the bridge of her nose as she looked up. A tall, broad shouldered, muscular man stood before her draped in a kilt, leather armor, and cloaked by furs. Yet his arms dripped with thick streams of dark blood, and all manner of blades, daggers, and bent arrows had pierced his torso from every angle. His face was gaunt, cheeks pale and sunken, but his eyes glowed with a horrible wrath. His hair was dry and matted.

But he held weapons of his own, a battered shield and a chipped, double edged sword.

"Gyagar!" The goblin spat what might've been a curse, before it charged yet again to try and strike the much bigger opponent. Miyuki's protector took the blow against his shield without budging, then raised his own weapon high. The glow in his eyes suddenly intensified--and a crackling surge of crimson power was conducted into his sword. It was as if the blood coating his arm had become electrified!

"Gram!" The undead warrior brought his weapon down as veins bulged in his arm. "Slice!"

The very wind seemed to part under the stroke, whipping up a harsh draft in the alleyway. The goblin's body split in half, spewing black viscera. The glowing sword left a trail of light as it passed through the air, and once again the various bottles and other recyclables were scattered down the pathway as the force dissipated.

Slowly, the being turned around. Miyuki gulped as she adjusted her glasses, but her shoulders heaved as she panted, panic and adrenaline rushing through her body. She could still see the blood dripping from the man's sword as he raised it up...

Then he stuck it into the ground at his side, as if the concrete offered no more resistance than sand. He held his bloodied hand out to her.

"Ah ask o' ye..." he said, his voice carrying an unearthly echo, "Art thou mah master?"

---

---

---

Dark, darker, ever darker... Hikari found a world devoid of her name surrounding her. Or at least it felt that way. A regular at lucid dreaming, she wasn't quite sure this was in fact even a dream... She certainly felt the falling as if it were real. And so she fell through the darkness, through what seemed to be even somehow darker still, and found herself landing on a solid surface. She didn't feel any pain from it, but she certainly felt the impact regardless. There was the sound of a small bell, and she turned to face the direction it had come from. As she turned on her feet, she felt and saw the world around her change. As if looking at a black and white gradient on a computer, her turning brought white light into view, momentarily blinding her and forcing her to raise her left hand to cover her eyes.

When she lowered it, she found herself looking at a strange hallway, one that seemed to have darkness flowing from its front into the back of it in a repetitive pulsing. She decided to walk through it only to find that she couldn't seem to progress. Or perhaps she was, and it was simply too far of a journey to notice in the strange darkness. After what felt like hours she finally arrived at the end, a strange room with tacky furniture and a... man? Woman? Someone sat in the back of the room. It was as if they were being looked at through blurry lens, and their voice sounded just as strange.

"Greetings, young one. Welcome to your new role." It began. "You've been chosen to help defend your home, isn't that wooooonderful?" There was no joy or excitement in its speech.

Hikari simply cocked her head to the right slightly, a blank expression on her face. To be honest, she was too busy trying to influence her dream into something more interesting than a blurry person in a strange room. The figure slammed shut what appeared through the distortion to be a book in a loud *crash*. Loud enough to break her concentration and make her pay attention to the figure.

"Could you repeat that?" There was a hint of boredom still in her voice as she asked.

"Absolutely not." The figure replied in an empty tone. "Pay attention the first time. Now, if you want to save your planet and species, then you'll need power. So that's what you'll get." Another flash of light, and again Hikari lifted her left hand to block it out, though with that came a stinging pain in the back of her hand. "That symbol will allow you the honor of summoning demons to fight for you. Simply call out the name of the demon that contracts with you and they will appear. Now leave."

That seemed awfully convenient. Hikari tried to ask for more information, but it was too late. She could feel the dream slipping. As she was focused on retaining the dream, her hand burned again and, after a quick look at the symbol that formed on it, she found herself awake in bed. Despite being one of the stranger dreams she'd had, she thought nothing of it and rolled over to go back to sleep.

---

"- accounts of the rising murders are-" Click.
"- the end of days! Why are people joining this new -" Click.
"- sighting of the supernatural at S - "Click.
"- SPECIAL -" Oh. Anime. That's worth watching, at least. Hikari thought to herself. Being her day off, Hikari was flipping through channels on TV as she ate her breakfast, loud music blaring on repeat from her phone. Of course, normal people wouldn't be quite able to multitask listening to music and watching television, but she was decidedly not normal, and was very used to the situation. It was hard to occupy her mind fully otherwise.

It was around forty-five minutes later, as she was going to put the dishes away, that it appeared. Just outside her kitchen's window, there was a strange something watching her. When she first glanced out she saw what appeared to be horns at the bottom of the window, but she thought nothing of it and continued what she was doing. Once she was done though, she walked over to take a closer look. She hadn't left the window open, had she? There was no sign of whatever was out there, so she stuck her head out to get a better look, and that's when it happened. A strange red creature grabbed her by the neck and pulled her out into her backyard through the open window. It was probably a good thing that she's as small as she is, as it prevented her from being slammed into the top half of the window, or rather through it, when she was yanked outside.

The creature held her at arm's length, which wasn't that far, by her neck causing her to be about an inch off the ground as she grabbed at its wrist and thrashed about to try to break free. But the creature just smirked at her and kept her there. As she was about to lose consciousness, she noticed a pain in her left hand and, taking it off the creature's wrist to look more closely, she could see the symbol from her dream present on it.

A voice rang through Hikari's mind. Call for me.

She tried to draw in a breath, but the creature's grip was too tight. Hurry!

"H-hei..." she managed to cough out. "Long!"

A darkness appeared behind the monster, and from it stepped a small... dragon? A small blue bipedal dragon, at that. Its red eyes focused on the red monster that was holding Hikari just as it turned to face the blue one.

"Die." Came from it as it slashed at the goblin-esque monster with [Crush Claw], quickly slicing it in half horizontally. Blood spattered onto its arm and Hikari's stomach as she fell to the ground coughing and trying to catch her breath. The dragon simply flicked its wrist to get the blood off as it walked towards her. Hikari, for her part, did not feel much fear from this one.

"Get up." Hikari stood and looked the demon in the eyes. The dragon simply smirked. "Yeah, you'll do. The name's 'Akane.' Don't forget it."

@Zeroth @The World @ActRaiserTheReturned

Xiaolong Wu

Xiao shook his head thinking that what had just happened was a hallucination. The tall man still felt uneasy about what had just transpired. Xiao would need to speak to his friends to see if they knew what had happened. Xiao had a few friends who were knowledgeable in the supernatural. He hoped that they would be able to assist him. Heading back towards his apartment he made sure to lock his door so nothing would barge in. He gets on the phone frantically punching in the number to his friend’s phone number. He waited impatiently as he could hear the phone ringing. “Pick up pick up pick up.“ He muttered under his breath when suddenly he heard his friend’s voice.

“Hello? Xiao how are you?” The friend’s voice was feminine. She was a woman Xiao had met in Osaka while filming a movie. Her occupation was being a fortune teller and psychic. “Is there something wrong?” She seemed to know what was on Xiao’s mind. He was not surprised as she probably knew what was going on.

“I am doing fine Umeko-chan. Although I have to ask have you seen or heard any strange occurrences going on lately?” Xiao had the TV on but without any sound. Although he did have a close caption so he could read the subtitles. He had the TV turned to the news.

“I have had people telling me of recently strange supernatural events happening to them. I am sure you have noticed the strange creatures that have been seen roaming the streets.” As Umeko spoke Xiao was nodding in agreement. While watching the news he heard reports of strange occurrences happening all over Japan. With the sky seemingly changing into different strange colours. With the cloud dissipating what looked like a large tear appeared in the sky.

“I’ve noticed. There seem to be other strange things going on. Perhaps you know the reason why all of this is happening?” He suggested but had a feeling she would not know all the answers. Flipping the channel to another news station that was reporting the same occurrence as the other station.

“No, I do not know the reason why this happening. But if I were you I would want to investigate that new age group that everyone is talking about.” She was referring to the Messengers Of Hope. or perhaps she meant The Crimson Order. There were so many cults out there it was hard to keep up.

“I will have a look into them, but if you were investigating those groups would yield any answers?” He asked sounding doubtful he would find anything useful. But perhaps he could look into it and see if he could get any useful information.

“Thank you Ume I appreciate your help.” Watching more reports of people being attacked by frightening creatures. Xiao hung up his phone. He didn’t know where to start in his investigation. The closest thing he could do was to go to one of their centres and ask for information about their group. It would be a good start and he hoped it could yield some results.

Xiao looked at the back of his hand noticing the symbol was still burnt into his flesh. Cursing under his breath what this cursed gift. The large man walked out of his apartment determined to find out why all of this was happening.

Meanwhile, the other two chosen would be disorientated by what had just occurred. Although with the burnt symbol in their flesh, it was clear what they experienced was not a dream. The demon they had defeated dropped a piece of paper on the ground. If they were to pick it up they would notice it was a flyer for a group called Messengers Of Hope. The details of the flyer noted there was to be a meeting going on later tonight at Inokashira Park.

---

---

"...N-nani?"

The trembling, bespectacled girl looked up at the man who offered her his blood drenched hand. Yet, though the crimson essence trailed from him like a streamer caught in the wind, it didn't wet the ground or stain her clothes. Instead, it disappeared as if evaporating. He had no shadow, either. But she could see him, standing there as solid as a rock. His blade reflected the sunlight in its cold steel--and it was definitely there, it had left a mark on the ground and everything.

"Ye cried me tae form a contract, didnae ye?" the creature said again, his eyes glowing like dull embers. He knelt down, his kilt barely brushing the cobblestones of the alleyway, and tilted his head at Miyuki.

"E-eto...Ai amu sorreh, m-mai Engrish iz not varry guud!" She could write it and read it pretty well, given all the cross-culture study of medieval and fantasy literature she'd done, but she hadn't gotten much practice speaking it since high school! It didn't help that this guy clearly had a really thick accent. "Sah-sank yoo for hepping me!" She fished her wallet out of her pocket, and grabbed the biggest bill she had--a measly 2000 Yen. "Th-theese is all Ai have, s-sorreh!" She bowed her head, and held it out to the man in both hands. What else was she supposed to do?! Was he going to cut her up next!?

"Ah accept!" Lham Dearg grabbed her hand rather than the money, the same hand that now burned with some strange mark. There was a flash of blue flame around both of them--and Miyuki suddenly felt cut off from the rest of the world.

A battle raged around her. She had no idea who fought against who, only that men fought and died with swords and spears in the shadow of great stone castles. The green hills ran red with blood, and the eyes of crows glimmered as they descended to feast. Miyuki screamed and covered herself with her arms as a wave of black feathers spilled over her.

Then she was back on the street, next to the closed shop, in the alleyway where an unearthly man had cut down a vicious goblin and spilled an entire bin of recyclables. But now, strange whispers in the back of her mind filled her with new knowledge.

"You...you're...not human. Not anymore, at least." she said, in her native tongue, as she looked at Lham Dearg. "But you're...my contracted demon? So you'll help me if...another one of those things shows up?" She looked towards the remains of the goblin--and as she did so, she noticed a scrap of paper fluttering underneath one piece of its corpse.

"Aye." Though the demon spoke his own language, somehow Miyuki understood the eerie echo of his voice. Through the power of their contract, no doubt. All of this...this was what that strange dream had been about? Even now she barely remembered having it...but everything was too real to deny. "Ye ainlie need tae ca' fur me by name, 'n' ah wull serve you--so lang as ye let me rammy tae mah heart's content!" Battle. He wanted to fight, to satisfy the deep bloodlust within his soul. A human spirit twisted by bloodlust and a savage grudge, dragged beneath the faerie hills and emerging as a dark warrior. Lham Dearg, the crimson hand...

"Til we meet again, wee lassie..." The demon's body began to disintegrate at its edges, and the wind appeared to blow him away in a cloud of sparkling dust. But somehow, as her hand throbbed and she slowly rose to her feet, Miyuki knew he was still there, watching her. He just wasn't in a material form anymore.

Was this...magic? Ghosts, demons, strange dreams--it sounded like something out of a crazy anime! Shaking her head, she looked once again at the goblin. Its body, too, was starting to disappear...With a quivering hand, she reached down and grabbed the slip of paper before it could blow away. As she held it, the black stain from the monster's blood dried up and flaked away along with the rest of the body.

"Messengers of Hope? That weird cult?" Of course, specifying "that weird cult" in Japan was like throwing grapeshot in a fish barrel given all the different groups one could run into on any given day passing out flyers or doing weird qigong dance routines. But the symbols on the flyer matched up with what she'd seen on the news a few times. The Messengers of Hope, and some other group--the Crimson-something--seemed like the latest bunch of whackos trying to get everyone from the homeless to politicians to lend them an ear. Was the demon...part of the cult?

Miyuki blinked. Maybe, her inner conspiracist whispered, the cult had summoned the demons! Like one of those fantasy games where an evil organization tried to break the seal on the demon king!

But she had summoned a demon too. Did that make her part of the evil group? And if the Messengers of Hope had summoned the goblin, had they sent it after her specifically? Or was it random? Why have a demon attack people in the streets?

The details of the flyer noted there was to be a meeting going on later tonight at Inokashira Park. For her that would be a little over an hour by train...Did she dare go to something like that? Even in search of answers?

"La...um...Lham Dearg? Do you know anything about this?" She asked in a quiet voice.

The whisper was inside her head! She jumped with a little squeal.
_{"Ah ken ainlie that mony powers ur converging oan this steid. A battle th' likes o' whilk haes nae bin seen afore shall soon be upon us!"}

"...That's a no, then..." Her demon sounded almost glad for the prospect, but wouldn't be much help. However...she couldn't be the only one this had happened to, right? All those news reports of people getting attacked and claiming they had seen monsters, maybe it happened to them just like her own experience! She had no intentions of joining any strange new-age movement or letting anyone extort her for cash...and she had a rather scary fellow protecting her now!

"Umu!" With a pump of her fists and a tensing of her jaw, Miyuki felt her determination settle. She would go to this cult's little show, and find out what was going on!

Then she looked at her phone, and saw what time it was.

"Ah! I still have to do the shopping, and get lunch, and figure out what to make for dinner! Awawawawah!" She shoved the flyer into her pocket, hurriedly began throwing the bottles and wrappers back in the recyclable bin (everyone had to do their part, after all!) and then dashed away down the sidewalk!

---

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---

---

She wore the black hoodie from her fencing club under her jacket now, along with a red scarf that she could wrap around her face if need be. She even had one of her bokken--the wooden swords used for martial arts training--in its cloth tote-bag over her shoulder. As if that wasn't suspicious at all. But she felt a little like a ninja, or a mysterious hero, brooding under a tree as the park began to darken!

Nevermind that her legs were shaking, and she kept looking around as if expecting another goblin, or some mugger, or a crazed religious fanatic to accost her at any moment.

But around this time of day, aside from a few evening runners or people taking a shortcut on their way home from work, the park didn't have a lot of people in it. Surely a big group like the Messengers of Hope would be easy to spot...Would they all be wearing weird robes or uniforms? If she saw them...what was she supposed to do? Should she just...go up to them and ask them?

Hi guys, my name's Miyuki! I contracted a demon this morning, with the cursed mark that appeared on the back of my hand! I don't suppose you know who opened the gates of hell and let all the monsters out, do you? She closed her eyes and sighed at herself. Why had she let her whimsical side get the best of her now, of all times...?

---

The blue demon watched, bemused, as Hikari caught her breath for a few moments. When she was finished and breathing normally again, she fell to the ground with her legs crossed and simultaneously raised her hand as if she were sitting in school waiting to be called on. However, she didn't wait for that to happen, as the moment she hit the ground she asked her question.

"Question! Why is your name 'Red' when you're blue?" There was genuine interest and slight confusion in her voice, but no trace of fear or malice. She didn't seem bothered by the blood on her shirt, nor the way that the two halves of the corpse that the other demon left behind were starting to fade away. To Hikari, this was like being a kid and meeting a new animal species for the first time, it was a moment of excitement! The demon just stared at her a moment before starting to laugh. When it stopped a few seconds later, it spoke up with amusement audible in its voice.

"It's not really any of your business why my name is what it is. But I like the enthusiasm! I'm sure we'll be great partners. But if we're going to be partners, I'd better know your name too."

"It's 'Hikari.'"

"Heh. Alright, I've memorized it. But don't going telling it to anyone else, telling a demon your name is dangerous."

"You're a demon?"

"Of course," Akane said, putting a hand on her hip and showing her teeth in a grin. "What did you think I am?"

"I dunno. I guess I figured you were a dragon, what with the 'Hei Long' and looking like one standing on two legs."

"Don't get it twisted, dragons in myths are based on demons of the same name. But that-" She stopped talking for a moment as something caught her eye. Akane walked over to the last bit of the goblin(?)'s body before it dissipated entirely. She picked up a small piece of paper that had fallen out of its belt. After reading it, she grinned again and went over to Hikari, handing her the flier. "Well, well. This oughta be fun, too!"

Hikari, who had been looking at her shirt when Akane had started walking, looked up from her now clean clothing to take the flier and read it. "The Messengers of Hope? What, was that thing a member?"

"It's possible, but it's more likely it was summoned by a human in that group. What do you know about them?"

"I've only really heard about them in passing. It's not that interesting of a name so I never payed any attention."

"Well start paying attention, because we're going to this meeting of theirs." Akane said after taking back the flier. "Get prepared to go on quite a trip, just in case things go the fun way. We don't want you running out of supplies. Bring a weapon, too. You might have to fight on your own."

"Wouldn't you just protect me?"

Akane laughed. "That's a good one. I'll try to keep you alive, but that's not the same as 'protecting,' so don't put too much faith in my desire to keep you breathing."

"Yeah, that's fair." Hikari replied as she stood up.

"Oh, and don't worry about not being able to see me. I'll be nearby." With that, Akane waved twice at the human and faded away.

Hikari blinked in surprise, then dutifully went back inside to begin preparing. Quite a trip, huh?

---

Sometime later, Hikari had packed a dufflebag with clothes and non-perishable food. She also had a courier's bag full of extra snacks, drinks, two charging cords for her phone, and a screwdriver and hammer alongside the fillet knife from her kitchen. Lastly, she had her pocket knife, phone, and a compass ready to put in her pockets. When she looked at the clock she found that she would still have plenty of time before she had to leave for Inokashira Park, so she ate a big dinner and took a quick shower before putting on her "trademark" outfit, filling it with the items she had set out and grabbing the two bags as she went outside.

She arrived at the park some time after Miyuki, though Hikari didn't notice the other girl. She hadn't heard Akane's voice since earlier, had she really followed her here?

@Zeroth@The World

Xiaolong Wu

Xiao had arrived in Inokashira Park a few hours before the meeting started. Scoping out and observing the cultists were preparing the meeting. Most of them were building and setting up strange effigies that were planted in the ground. Some of them were setting up tents and catering vans were present. Large muscular men were coming out of the van, carrying large containers of food. Xiao was wearing a black sweater, black jeans, and black athletic shoes. Hidden underneath his sweater was a pair of nunchucks. Something he would use if he would need to defend himself.

He watched them from behind some bushes before joining them as the meeting was starting. The sun was setting and the sky was darkening turning a mixture of pink, blue, and yellow. It was quite a pleasant sight for the man. Showing one of the cultists the flyer and lying that he had been recently recruited. “I apologize for being late, I was stuck in traffic.” He said watching the cultist nodding his head. All of the cultists he noticed were wearing all-white robes with brown sandals.

“That is okay brother, you have just gotten here in time. Please mingle with the others before the meeting starts.” The cultist smiled before leaving. Xiao was creeped out by the cultist’s smile felt otherworldly.

He noticed many noticeable faces among the members. He recognized famous actors, politicians, models, and other powerful figures. The actor had quick conversations with the actors he recognized. Gathering information about the cult through small talk. From what he had figured out through conversation the group seemed focused on a person bettering themselves. Mostly stuff that he had heard from new-age religions in the past. The one thing that interested him was the name of the leader. The leader was a man named Satoshi Miura a failed politician who had been missing for a few months before reappearing. It was strange as he thought that his political career was dead thanks to his corruption. But it seemed someone had given him some sort of power in this little group. He assumed that there was someone else really leading this group, and Miura was the figurehead of the group.

After a while, Xiao noticed the “leader” Satoshi walking up to a podium. The other cultist quickly get in their seat. After everyone was seated the failed politician spoke. “Welcome everyone to tonight’s mass. I am glad to see that our congregation is becoming larger than before. I know you are all scared by the recent attacks, I empathize with you and i assure you that you will be protected. All we need to do is pray.” And with that, everyone started chanting except of course for Xiao.

The actor noticed that the statue behind the podium was starting to glow a little. The light was slowly getting brighter and was in his eyes quite ethereal. The others would notice the light coming from the statue. To them it was bright and they would see an image of the person they love. For Xiao, it was his wife and child. He was awestruck before being taken out of his trance by his “companion” slapping him hard on the side of his face. Xiao finally noticed that the faces of the cultists were transfixed on Satoshi and the statue. Some of the cultists started to cry blood which he thought was not a good sign of whatever was going on. Standing up from his chair and pulling out his nunchucks from under his sweater.

“JACK FROST.” He cried out while Jack appeared behind the tall man and moved beside him. Xiao quickly made his way towards the podium where Satoshi was. But before he could get there he was blocked by two cultists.

Satoshi was busy still with his speech while the glow of the statue seemed to glow brighter. As if he was trying to summon something. “Stop what you are doing, you are hurting these people." Xiao screamed over the chanting pointing towards the transfixed crowd. Satoshi was not listening and stopped as the crowd kept chanting.

“Why do you not want to be in the loving embrace of god?” Satoshi said thinking it was confusing to him that Xiao was resisting. He looked surprised to see the burning symbol on the back of Xiao’s hand. “Are you chosen by god to be his servant? I am confused as to why you would attack your fellow man?”

“” I do not follow anyone, I am using this power to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Don’t you see the blood coming out of your follower’s eyes? How is harming them going to give them any sort of enlightenment?” Xiao noticed the cultist blocking Satoshi pulling sharp-looking kitchen knives out of their robes.

“They are being embraced by the holy light of Elohim. The process is completely harmless my son, they will wake up soon and become more dedicated to the cause.” Satoshi said with an eerie smile. This didn’t sound like a very good thing for the followers.

Xiao prepared himself for a fight as he noticed Satoshi summoning two demons. One was a Virtue and the other was a
Cyclop

Xiao went for one of the cultists smacking him with the end of his nunchuck to try and knock him out. Jack Frost attacked the other cultist freezing his knife, so Xiao could knock him out as well.
Satoshi commanded his demons to attack Xiao, and the actor would be defenceless unless the other chosen tried to help him out.

---

---

Before long, one of the roads leading through the park appeared to be filled with a long line of white vans. Several of them had the logos of different restaurants or other service providers, like those who would set up tents or stages and seating for events--that had to be related! Otherwise, why would so many of them, from different businesses, be all following each other? Miyuki pulled her hood down as she jogged down one of the nearby bike paths, following the vans' route as they entered the park proper.

Now other people were starting to filter into the park. Some of them carried bags and looked around shiftily. More than once, Miyuki saw them stop behind large trees or near benches. They would don long white robes over their clothes, and remove their shoes and socks to put on simple leather sandals. They were definitely cultists!

But there seemed to be some others within the park as well. @The WorldA girl in a yellow hoodie...and a large, muscular man wearing all black like some kind of creeper. Miyuki didn't particularly linger on these individuals, since her focus was on getting closer to the large field where people seemed to be setting up for an event...but, she unconsciously held her hand closer to her chest as the symbol began to throb again.

It wasn't just a stage, or a tent with seats, or food stalls. The cultists were setting up strange figures of straw or wood. She had seen footage of a festival on the internet once, something in the United States called Burning Man, and while none of these structures were on par with the sheer scale of that one, they seemed to loom darkly over Miyuki as she passed under their expressionless faces.

"Excuse me, Miss!" Miyuki barely stifled a squeal as a large man in one of the white robes stepped out in front of her. "Are you here for the Messengers of Hope event?" The man smiled at her--unnervingly so--but held his hands loosely clasped in front of him and his body language didn't seem threatening.

"Y-yes, s-sorry! I've, um, n-never been to one of these before!" She pulled the wrinkled flyer out of her pocket and handed it to the man for inspection. He nodded, his smile widening to a disturbing grin, and held it back out for her.

"Please, don't apologize, my sister! We are so very blessed to have you! Please, please, take a seat towards the front--we must be sure our newest believers are able to experience all we have to offer!" Nodding as she gulped down her fear, Miyuki clutched the flyer close to her and moved towards the seating area. Then, she suddenly stopped and shook her head!

I'm not supposed to go along with all this! I just want to know what's up with the demons, and these crazy dreams!

But, now that she was among the crowd, and listening to the laughter and chatting going on around her, the shy girl began to realize just who was in attendance. A model she'd seen in magazines and on morning shows was wearing one of the white robes, and speaking in a fast, enthusiastic manner to a stern looking man. The collar of his robe was a little low, so Miyuki could see the stiff neck of his business suit beneath it and part of his tie. She didn't know him by sight like the model, but he radiated a "CEO" kind of aura. And...

"Ohmigosh," she dropped her flyer, and brought both hands to her mouth. Or rather, her scarf. "Is that Rei-kun!?" Though no one around her replied to the whispered question, Miyuki blushed with second-hand embarrassment. "Rei-kun" was the stage name of a member from her favorite male idol group, and the young man himself was gathered in a circle around one of the effigies--"And that's T-Takki, a-and Yuuya! N-no way!" Was the whole group involved in this cult? That put a serious damper on her multi-way crush, to imagine her pure and beloved idols could be involved with such a weird group...

Someone called for everyone's attention, from the podium nearby. As spotlights were swiveled in that direction, Miyuki saw another face she recognized from the news. Satoshi Miura. Forced to step down by his fellow party members and embroiled in numerous scandals and lawsuits, the politician's appearance came as less of an unexpected surprise to Miyuki than the idols' had, but she was still confused. She had thought he would be in prison by now, or at the very least under house arrest pending one of the several cases being built against him. Even if he had enough money to get out of it, like all the other wriggling worms in government, to knowingly involve himself with a group as controversial as the Messengers of Hope didn't seem like the brightest move.

Everyone else started moving to their seats. Miyuki faded into the background, finding a seat in the further rows near the side of the event grounds--not quite at the back, where they would look for stragglers, but definitely nowhere near the front. And Satoshi's speech began.

Protection? How could the Messengers of Hope protect people from demon attacks? How could Satoshi promise something like that, when he no longer had any such power? Besides, if someone was in danger, wasn't it better to call the police?

And who were they supposed to be praying to? He hadn't said anything about who or what the cultists even worshipped...

The chanting began. Miyuki's hand throbbed, and she began to massage her palm with the other. What was this strange feeling bubbling up inside her? Why...did she suddenly feel...so foggy...?

The lights were too bright. No, wait, those weren't the spotlights, they were...what...who?



Miyuki regained consciousness with a scream, tears running down her face. As she stood from her seat, knocking the chair over in the process, she saw that several others were in the same state--only, their tears were a dark, thick red. Eyes rolled back into their heads, other people among the crowd frothed at the mouth or convulsed in their seats. Gasping with revulsion, Miyuki groped for the tote-bag holding her bokken as she looked around at the rest of the cult.

"JACK FROST!" someone roared. Miyuki turned to see that strange man in all black leap up, throwing off his hood as he whipped out--a pair of nunchaku?! And as he rushed the stage, she recognized him too! That was Xavier Wong, an international action star! Was he part of the cult too?!

Wait, he was fighting with the cultists! And...was that a little kid in a snowman costume with him?!

Na, lassie. That be Jack Frost, a demon lik' masell. This be whit Ah spoke tae ye before--Let us jyne th'fray!

The girl started to protest--before Satoshi's chant continued, and two more monsters appeared! A crystalline, angelic figure with a beating heart in its stomach and a blue giant with ox hooves and horns, but a singular eye in a human face arose from bright portals at Satoshi's feet! Just as Mr. Wong knocked out the two cultists with knives attacking him, the demons lunged for him!

"LHAM DEARG!"

@Eviledd1984Just as the Cyclopes was about to bring down its hammer on the martial artist's head, sparks flew! Steel clashed with steel, and the red-handed fae soldier managed to barely deflect the blow! As the hammer's head came down on the stage, an explosion of wood chips and dust rained over the comatose crowd!

"Lass! Thay aren't a' oot cauld!" shouted the demon towards Miyuki.

"What?" she questioned with a blank face, before a sudden movement close to her face caused her to whip backwards with shocking agility for a nerdy girl. One lens of her glasses cracked at its edge, a near miss!

"The lord...The LORD our Elohim...is one LORD..." mumbled a cultist holding an extending baton. The man approached as if he was drunk, but with clear purpose. Miyuki's hand closed on the hilt of her wooden sword, and as she drew it the cloth tote was thrown aside. As it drifted on the wind, all ten of her fingers slowly flexed and closed on the weapon's grip.

"S-stay, stay away!" But of course, the attacker didn't heed the warning. A new look entered Miyuki's eyes now--the look she had whenever she stepped onto the club mats to spar.

With an unintelligible gurgle, the cultist lurched forward--!

Miyuki was two steps faster, and with movements combined from HEMA and kendo delivered a flowing three-strike combination--head, body, and chest! The cultist was stunned by the heavy blow to his skull, and the next two drove the breath out of his lungs--he wasn't dead, but dropped to the ground all the same. Then the intense look on Miyuki's face was immediately replaced by one of confusion as she ran towards Lham Dearg, and by extension Mr. Wong and the Jack Frost demon.

"What's going on?!" she blubbered, as all around them the seizing victims in the crowd continued to chant...

---

Hikari payed little attention to the others in the area as they began to fill in. Absentmindedly she noticed that some of the people there had been on television before, but she didn't think past that. As far as she was concerned, the music that was playing in her head was more important. When one of the other people nearby questioned her appearance and that she was carrying travel bags to the meeting, she simply shrugged and gave a lie about being from a far away place and not trusting the hotel to keep her things safe. That seemed to be enough for them to leave her alone.

Unbeknownst to her, Akane was paying much more attention to the area, though she seemed almost as unimpressed as Hikari. As the human girl stood against a tree, Akane was already laying in the branches, watching the other humans. Despite not knowing that she was there, Hikari assumed that if she was, she'd probably be paying enough attention to the others for both of them. Hikari didn't recognize the leader of the group when he went up to speak in front of everyone, but she had the thought that she might have seen him before. The strangest thing was that shortly after those seated began chanting, the statue in front of them began to glow. Hikari couldn't help herself, she pulled her eyes away from it before it got too bright and looked around to see if anyone else was reacting to it. It seemed that everyone else was entranced by the light, to the point that they seemed unaware of anything else around them.

Tsk. Stupid humans... Akane thought. She looked down to her so-called "partner," and smiled when she noticed that Hikari wasn't focused on the light. Not bad. As her gaze returned to the other humans, so too did Hikari's. They both saw when a certain blonde girl shook herself out of the trance that the others were in, and both glanced towards the source of the "Jack Frost" shout to see a man wearing all black being held back by some of the cult members. While Hikari stood still and watched, Akane smirked once again.

Finally. Time for some action.

Akane gave a lazy look at the snowman who appeared next to the man in black, and Hikari mentally stopped her music to focus slightly more on what was happening. It looked like she wasn't the only one with a demon partner, nor the only one with the mark on their hand, which she noticed when the man attacked the cultists between him and their leader. As the two other demons appeared, she looked towards Satoshi to search for a mark on his hand, but found none.

"LHAM DEARG!" came from the blonde girl. Another person like the man and Hikari? Was saying the name of a demon what summoned them? As Hikari wondered on that, she saw the other girl being attacked by a cultist only for her to swiftly defeat him. It would probably be smartest to leave this to those two, and she would have left it at that if it weren't for the blue... angel? The strange winged creature with a glowing heart in its stomach seemed to notice that Hikari wasn't in a trance, and that appeared to be unacceptable to it.

The blue angel spread its wings and from between them countless small needles flew towards Hikari. She was lucky, very lucky, to get out of the way of all but one. That needle was stuck in her lower leg, still sticking out, blood flowing from the wound. The Virtue paused to prepare another attack. As Hikari clutched her injured leg with both hands, she shouted out. "Hei Long!"

Akane leaped from the treetop as she appeared, managing to take the Virtue by surprise. [Crush Claw] connected with its right wing as she fell from her jump, her other arm gripping the angel by its left leg. With the angel distracted, Hikari began to pull the needle out of her leg. Or at least she tried to, to no avail. In her desperation she pulled her knife from her pocket and dug it slightly into her own leg, barely managing to dig the needle out, causing much more blood to flow from the wound.

Akane didn't even spare a glance at her partner, too deep in blood-lust to care that the human girl screamed out from the pain.

@Zeroth @The World

Xiaolong Wu

Xiao looked over at the other two demon users with a surprised look on his face. He wondered if there was another besides them. The large man closed the distance between himself and the cultist armed with a knife. He smacks both of them in the head with his nunchucks. The steel weapons smacked them in the head with a loud THUD. Both cultists were knocked on the unconscious. The chanting from the other cultists was quite unnerving towards the action star. Jack Frost meanwhile was freezing the weapons of the cultists that were coming towards him. Xiao would follow up by smacking the cultist with his nunchucks. For the most part, he was trying not to kill anyone. Murder was something he did not want on his conscience.

“You son of a bitch.” Xiao said in Japanese trying to convince Satoshi to stop his attack. The man laughed and sent his Cyclop to try and attack Xiao. The large creature tried to smash him with its club. Xiao jumped out of the way but bruised his arm in the process. Xiao got back into a fighting stance while studying the Cylop in front of him. Jack shoots large ice shards toward the Cyclop, most of them hitting the one-eyed demon square in the chest. Sending it backwards and almost toppling over, but studied itself by using its club to lean on it. Xiao quickly took this opportunity to finish this battle by jumping in the air and kicking the Cyclop in the chest. Making the demon fall down onto the ground. His attention then turned toward Satoshi who was smiling moving closer towards Xiao.

The cultists who tried to attack Miyuki fell onto the floor with a loud thud. More cultists stumbled over towards Miyuki, brandishing their knives and coming over to continue attacking her. “I don’t know what is going on, but we have to stop them before these people get hurt.” Xiao said motioning towards Satoshi with his head.

The Cyclop slowly got back up and came over to try and attack Hikari.

---

---

Despite Lham Dearg having just deflected its last attack, the Cyclops's reaction to the undead soldier was almost non-existent. Instead, it only responded to the words and gestures of Satoshi Miura--immediately turning from Lham Dearg to try and attack the muscular man wielding those flail-like weapons.

"Ye feartie-cat! Come back 'n' coupon mah sword!" yelled the angry Sidhe. But then his mistress shrieked as more cultists surrounded her--some had cut her off before she could reach the stage, and others were closing in from behind! Lham Dearg paid no more mind to the one-eyed giant--it looked like Jack Frost and the martial artist were holding their own well in any case. The swordsman leaped off the stage, as the dark blood spilling from his hands trailed in the air!

"Wah, wh-what's w-w-wrong with you!?" Miyuki's entire body trembled as the cultists closed in, wielding knives or box cutters, batons--things that they must've been hiding on their person or under their robes the whole time. But her shakes were only due to the fear of direct social confrontation--such a shy girl could barely tolerate crowds to begin with, much less such a hostile environment as this one. But when one cultist lunged at her with the knife, she sidestepped without even thinking and slammed her wooden sword down hard on the back of his head. The man let out a sharp cry before he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Then another one grabbed her hood, yanking her back as the point of a knife glittered above her--!

"Unhaun th' lassie!" Lham Dearg's own blade passed a mere hand's breadth away from Miyuki's face, and the Cultist holding her cried out in pain. She twisted her whole body and kicked off with both legs, jerking free just before her contracted demon shoulder checked the robed figure--who was now crying through bloodshot eyes as they gripped the bleeding stump of their arm.

"D-don't k-k-kill them!" She gasped, though she immediately had to defend herself again. Her wooden blade clacked loudly against the Cultist's baton as they swung in clumsy, drunken fits.

"Och, Ah'll juist invite thaim ower fur a plook o' cuppa then!" spat her Demon as his sword deflected another knife. "Whit else dae ye expect in th' midst o' battle?" Nonetheless, rather than maiming this enemy he simply punched them in the face with his off hand. They still screamed and bled from a clearly broken nose, but as they writhed on the ground at least it was a debatably better outcome. The soldier immediately turned to another foe and caught their wrist mid-swing before clubbing them over the skull with the pommel of his sword, dropping them like a sack of potatoes.

"I don't know what is going on, but we have to stop them before these people get hurt!" came a shout. Miyuki had just finished her opponent with a thrust to the gut that knocked the air out of their lungs, and turned to see Mr. Wong gesturing over the stage. It looked like the Cyclops had been knocked off the dais, and that crystalline angel was gone too--but that was because it was attacking another girl!

This girl had a demon with her too--a much cuter looking one than what Miyuki had ended up with! In a moment of self-consciousness, she looked back at her contractee--only to see the Scotsman headbutt another Cultist. Multiple times. Until they lost consciousness.

But Miyuki understood what Mr. Wong had meant! These cultists weren't in their right minds, and those other demons seemed a great deal stronger than the other three individually. Maybe by teaming up they could defeat them...but, those demons had also been summoned!

So what if they took the summoner out instead?

"Lham Dearg! We have to stop Satoshi Miura!" shouted Miyuki as she charged the stage again. Her partner grunted in assent as barreled through another pair of Cultists. He outran Miyuki with his supernatural athleticism, stopping below the stage to hold out one hand.

With a sudden realization that, in only a short amount of time, she'd come to implicitly trust this inhuman creature, Miyuki stepped up. Her foot, small by comparison to the much taller demon, planted against Lham Dearg's palm.

"Chlanna nan con thigibh--" Muscle and veins stood out in the demon's arm as he heaved, "--a' so 's gheibh sibh feòil!"

"WHAT DOES THAT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAN!?" Miyuki wailed as she soared into the air, above the stage, above the lecturn where Satoshi Miura stood watching Xavier Wong fight his demon. The politician's head would probably snap around just in time to see all one hundred ten pounds of angry nerd girl swinging a wood sword at his face with both hands!

"Sons of The Hounds, Come Here and Get Flesh!" translated Lham Dearg with a bloodthirsty smile as he too mounted the stage, coming at Satoshi from behind with his own sword, this one made of real and deadly steel--!

---

Oh. Oh. That was all that went through Hikari's mind as she looked up from her leg to see the scene before her. Akane was still holding onto the angel's leg, but the other large demon that had been summoned by the cult leader now seemed to have its attention on her. And... And... And why was it wearing a shirt but not pants? Sure, it didn't seem to have genitals, but still, what purpose did that serve? As she thought on this, her eyes lowered to the ground and her brow furrowed. She was way too distracted for the midst of a battle. She didn't even notice that her hand was shaking.

Meanwhile, the blonde girl and the man with the snowman were fighting really well, beating most of the cultists by themselves. Which was a very, very good thing, only further so because Hikari was definitely not focused on fighting at the moment and Akane was far too focused on her fight. The dragon was still busy trying to continue cutting up the angel on the ground to even notice the giant that was walking towards her human partner. She didn't realize that it was now next to her until she felt its hammer come down on the back of her head, sending Akane flying into the side of the stage at high speed.

The crashing sound caused Hikari to jolt, the knife in her hand digging back into her leg and the pain of it breaking her out of her thoughts. Shit that hurt. She looked up to see the Cyclops was now within a few of its large steps of reaching her and the Virtue was now standing again. It didn't seem like it was ready to fly again, but and its attention was focused on Hikari's partner, but it looked pretty pissed. As pissed as one can look wit such a strange face, at least.

The human girl tried to stand up, but the pain was too much for her to be able to put her weight on it. And so when the Cyclops raised its hammer above her, and the Virtue summoned a ball of fire to shoot at Akane, all Hikari could do was shut her eyes tight.

@Zeroth @The World

Xiaolong Wu

Satoshi smiled when he noticed the girl trying to attack him. “Good effort, but it needs more work.” And with that, he moved out of the way with inhuman speed. Countering the attack by kicking Miyuki in the stomach. “You can do nothing to stop the incoming rapture. None of you can stop it.” Sending more cultists to come over to try and attack Miyuki. One of the cultists was welding a large bike chain, while the other was holding a baseball bat. Both men started raising their weapons trying to attack her.

Xavier meanwhile made sure that the girl was doing okay. “You don’t look too injured, but I’m glad you're doing okay. Are you still able to fight?” The large man smiled before turning his attention towards the Cyclop coming towards them. “JACK OVER HERE!!!” He commanded Jack to quickly make his way towards them. The little snowman quickly glided over beside Xavier. “It looks like you need to chill out.” He smirked while Jack shot a long freezing beam at the Cyclop’s club. Quickly freezing it in place. And before the club could slam into them Xavier jumped up to break the club into tiny shards. He landed on its shoulder before kicking it in the head as hard as he could. It stumbled and unknown to it that its feet were frozen thanks to Jack. This combination caused the demon to fall over making the earth shake. His attention now turns towards Satoshi. By this point, the politician did not seem unfazed by what had happened.

Satoshi ran over toward Mikyuki trying to slash her with a hidden knife that was in his robes. Not noticing the attack behind him, he was sent flying foward. Groaning in pain and tried to get back up. The Virtue meanwhile was struggling to fight but was slowly gaining focus. She turned her attention to the girl and went in for another attack.

---

---

Even to Miyuki's highly tuned reflexes, Satoshi's speed was unnatural. His roundhouse kick--did this past-middle-aged politician really have such martial arts skills?--slammed into her ribs like a baseball bat! Spittle flew from Miyuki's lips as the breath was driven from her lungs, and she tumbled across the stage floor like a ragdoll. Two more of the brainwashed crowd were coming at her, but she struggled to get up. She hacked and choked, trying desperately to get the oxygen she needed to move her aching body...

Satoshi revealed a weapon of his own as he taunted the downed girl--but he'd forgotten about her demon. Lham Dearg's sword slashed across his back, parting the white robes and staining them with blood. The politician groaned in pain as he fell to the ground. Yet...he still moved?! The Lham Dearg narrowed his eyes and raised his blade again. This human had been empowered somehow, beyond merely having the ability to contract with Demons. They needed to finish him before any more of that power could be brought to bear!

But Miyuki's shrill gasps reached his ear before the undead could bring down his bloodied steel. With an angry growl, he chose his mistress over ending the fight for good.

The cultist with the bike chain whipped it above their head in wide circles, preparing to bring it down with all the built up momentum. Likewise, the one with the bat drew it back with both hands, aiming a home-run swing at Miyuki's blonde head--

"Critical Wave!" Even before he reached them, Lham Dearg's sword sliced horizontally through the air. A glowing shockwave of power was released from his blade--when the energy struck both humans in the back, they pitched forward! Both of them flew over Miyuki, and fell headfirst off the edge of the stage!

"Arms 'boon yer heid, mah lassie!" Lham Dearg barked as he grabbed Miyuki by her hood and lifted her to her feet with one hand. Then, he reached behind his hip for his shield, and took up a defensive stance in front of his master as they saw Satoshi getting back to his feet. "He's pure tough, bit he bleeds! We wull win this rammy yit!"

"Wh-why...is he s-so st-strong?" Miyuki coughed as her lungs finally started working again. "Is it...magic f-from his d-d-demons?" Her companion growled again.

"Mayhaps...th' power o' th' whispers?" she heard Lham Dearg say. But it sounded like the Scotts-fae himself wasn't sure, either. Miyuki had no idea what a "whisper" was supposed to mean. Did he mean an actual whisper, like Satoshi was hearing voices or something? Or was it part of the demon's strange accent, referring to a different thing entirely?

"Ye dunderheided gowk!" roared Lham Dearg at Satoshi, banging his sword against his shield. "Coupon me alone! Or urr ye a mere feartie-cat!?" The demonic soldier used his shield to hide both his swordhand, and Miyuki standing behind him, from Satoshi's sight. But, step by step, he drew a little closer to the politician...it seemed clear he had a plan, but what direction would that sword come from? Its blade had already wounded Satoshi once--was he in the mood to take another?

---

Hikari opened her eyes again as the earth beneath her shook from the Cyclops. It seemed that she had been saved. But she didn't have time to figure out what had happened, as the Virtue was now targeting her. The fireball in front of it had grown and the angel seemed to be regaining its composure, at that. The girl tried to stand, but barely managed to get to her feet through the pain. She didn't stand a chance in a one-on-one fight here, and the others were all occupied fighting the Virtue's master. If only Akane were still capable of fighting... Still, Hikari got into as close to a fighting stance as she could with her leg being injured. Maybe she could dodge the fire and distract the Virtue enough to let the others win their fight?

A low-pitched screech came from inside the underneath of the stage. What was that noise? Hikari turned to look at the source, but couldn't see anything. In fact, it was as if the hole in the side of the stage were darker than it should be...

[Dark Howling] rang out from Akane's mouth, a deep resonating sound followed by a wave of darkness that reached outwards in a sphere, aiming to cause harm to all of her enemies. While the dragon wouldn't know if Satoshi had been hit until she returned from under the stage, it was obvious that she managed to hit the angel, who seemed to take more damage than she expected; likely due to the Virtue's weakness to dark magic. The angel's fireball exploded in its face as it was shaken, bringing it down seemingly for the rest of the fight.

@Zeroth @The World

Xiaolong Wu

Xavier was now focusing his attention on Satoshi who seemed distracted fighting Miyuki. The tall man with his demon ran over towards him wanting to end this fight quickly. Looking over at Miyuki wondering if she would be strong enough to continue. He hoped so because he felt he wasn’t strong enough to fight Satoshi. Xavier stood beside Miyuki ready to finish this fight. “Are you ready to finish this miss?” He said before running towards the cult leader. Jack Frost shot thick ice shards at Satoshi. The politician smiled while moving quickly out of the many large ice shards moving towards him. Although he was distracted enough to not notice Xavier coming towards him. Whacking him in the head with his nunchucks and following up with a kick to his chest. This attack sent Satoshi being sent flying backwards landing on the floor with a loud thud.

The actor hoped that would be enough to incapacitate him. From the corner of his eye, he could see Virtue’s attack being shot back at her. This caused the angel to fall onto the ground and disappear in a puff of smoke. There was silence as Xavier watched Satoshi’s body not moving. For a moment he was worried he had killed the politician. He slowly walked over towards him being ready for a surprise attack. Checking his pulse he was glad he was still alive, which means he can question him.

“Who is Elohim? What is the purpose of your cult?” Xavier held onto the collar of his robe. Having Jack beside him ready to attack if Satoshi tried to blindside him.

The cult leader was coughing out some blood which pooled on the robes he was wearing. “Elohim is he who he is. Our purpose is to protect the lambs of earth from the fallen angel.” Satoshi said which made Xavier raise an eyebrow. “I can see you are a believer of Fú, he is in league with Elohim protecting us mortals. We must build our army to stop chaos consuming the earth.”

Xavier looked even more confused by what Satoshi was saying. Although he was surprised when he mentioned his practicing religion. It didn’t take long to who he it was he was referred to as the fallen angel. “So what you're saying every supernatural being including gods are real? No that can’t be possible.” He shook his head but came to the relaxation it could be possible, he could see and interact with demons so higher beings being real was not impossible. “And the cult was being used to recruit people? And this Elohim and your cult is fighting Satan and his forces?” A guess which Satoshi nodded his head. “I assume theirs a cult of Satanists in Japan? Where are they?” But before Satoshi could answer he fell into unconsciousness.

“Damn it.” Cursing under his breath he stood up and started looking around for any clues. During his search, he found another conscious cultist who would be able to give him the information. His interrogation was quick and somewhat painful for the cultist. Xavier was told the cult sent a spy and was stationed at the NHK Broadcasting Center. After this interrogation, he stood up and knocked out the cultist. Turning his attention towards the others. “I’m going to NHK broadcasting centre tomorrow to find this cultist spy, perhaps I can find some information about what the hell is going on.” He looked at the two women with a sad look. “I plan on getting an interview done there, you two can come with me posing as my assistant. I’ll try to get the interview down hopefully this week, perhaps while they are distracted one of you could slip off and try to find some evidence on what is going on with these cults.” He took out a slip of paper and a pen writing down his phone number. Ripping it in two and handing the ripped papers to them. Both pieces of paper had his cellphone number on it.

"There seems to be no turning back now, we need to fight these bastards before things start getting out of control. But I feel remorse for asking you to be involved in all of this. If you do want to fight these bastards, then give me a call and we can meet in a secure location to discuss our battle plan." Sounding worried about how far reaching this cult was. He hoped it was not prevalent in America where his family is.

---

---

@Eviledd1984
As Satoshi and Lham Dearg squared off, it seemed like the other demon contractors present had managed to fend off the Cyclops and the other angelic being. Xiaolong, or Xavier Wong as Miyuki knew him from movies and TV, came charging towards the stage. He called out to Miyuki that it was time to finish this battle, before starting in on Satoshi himself.

"Ye daft--! Dinnae interfere in mah battle!" yelled Lham Dearg, shaking his shield as his normally grim face distorted with comical anger, complete with a red pulsing vein in his forehead. But just then, the diminutive Jack Frost happened to leapfrog over his shoulders with a happy "Hee ho!"

A barrage of ice shards from the other demon put Satoshi off balance, allowing Mr. Wong to deal him a rapid combination of blows! The politician hit the stage with a loud thump. He was roughly grabbed by the martial arts star, who wasted no time interrogating him.

With a choked laugh, Satoshi claimed that this was all somehow to protect the earth from "a fallen angel." He also called Xavier Wong a follower of "Fu?"

"W-what does he m-m-mean by...a fallen angel?" Miyuki asked shyly, tugging on Lham Dearg's kilt. Understanding her intent, the demon raised his own voice.

"Who be this fallen angel, mah lassie says!" barked the Scotts-fae. But it seemed Xavier was just as confused as the two of them, and stuck on the implications of Satoshi's claim.

"W-wait! Awawawah...W-Wong-san!" Miyuki cried out, her cheeks turning red with embarassment. "M-maybe we shouldn't assume it's Satanists?" She wrung her hands as she babbled--normally she would be too star struck to even speak to the man at all, but the adrenaline from the fight had strangely pushed all her other anxieties to the back. "Th-there are other kinds of "fallen beings" in m-mythology..."

Satoshi passed out before they could get any concrete answers. Xiaolong started to investigate the other cultists, and the unlucky few who were still conscious were subjected to the same manhandling as Satoshi. Meanwhile, Miyuki approached the other girl who had been wounded in the fight.

@The World
"A-A-are you, um, okay?" she asked Hikari Kana with a nervous gulp. Lham Dearg stood a few steps behind her, weapons sheathed and arms crossed. He was still clearly pissed about having his duel interrupted. "I'm sorry we couldn't help you quicker--I, I just, I thought if we beat the summoner, b-both of those monsters w-would disappear..."

"Weel done, ye wee lizard!" said her contracted demon, smirking at Akane. "Ah thought ye wud git crushed easily, t'look at ye!"

While they were talking, at some point Xiaolong would approach them again. Handing them his personal info--which almost made Miyuki faint on the spot--he told them his plan: Apparently, there might be another lead within the NHK broadcasting center. If the two of them posed as his entourage while he conducted an interview, they might be able to find the cultist spy...

---

Hikari watched as the Virtue disappeared, and turned her attention to the two men who were fighting. One of them soon showed himself to be the victor and began questioning the other. Akane came out from where she was and walked over to her partner, mumbling angrily under her breath. At the same time, Miyuki came over to ask if Hikari was alright, to which she shrugged. "Not really, but it'll heal."

"That's not going to work. Hold still." Akane told her as she cast [Dia] on her, Hikari's wound rapidly closing, the pain melting away alongside it.

When the large Scottish(?) demon praised her, Akane growled and opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it and closed it again. Xiaolong walked over to hand both of the human girls a piece of paper, telling them his plan, to which Hikari only shrugged again. "I guess it's worth a shot."

To be honest, she wasn't really sure that she should even get involved in this. But she supposed that if the demon that attacked her had a connection to the cult, and the cult wasn't defeated, then she might get attacked again. That was just enough motivation to get her to agree.

@Zeroth @The World

Xiaolong Wu.

FOUR WEEKS LATER.

Xavier had arranged to meet the two girls at a random restaurant. He knew he would not be recognized thanks to the disguise he was wearing. This disguise consists of a baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a black trenchcoat. In reality, this would look quite suspicious to anyone walking passed him. Getting a private booth for the three of them he sat down and had removed his trenchcoat. But he made sure to keep the hat and sunglasses on. Watching the two girls coming into the booth he smiled and welcomed them in. “Thank you for coming. I apologize for contacting you so late for this meeting. But I just wanted to talk to you two.” He took a deep breath before taking a sip of water. “Don’t worry about the meal i will pay for all of it.” He said before the waiter came to take their order. Xavier ordered some katsudon with a side of fried rice on the side and a beer.

After they had ordered their food Xavier felt he was finally able to speak freely. “Before we encountered that cult a few weeks ago, I had a dream where this man told me I was chosen to protect the world. Burning this symbol onto the back of my hand. I assume you two had a similar dream. The figure seemed to be working for a higher power that wants to protect humanity.” He stopped when he noticed the waiter coming back with their food.

Xavier continued speaking as the waiter left the booth. “I am curious why this figure would pick us, I am only an actor I do not think I would be much use saving the world. This cult we fought seemed to be an offshoot of catholicism. And from what I could find there is someone who has more power than Satoshi. Someone named Gaburieru keeps coming up from what information I could find. The only problem is I can’t find any picture of this guy and other information to identify him.” Xavier started eating his food but slowly with a worried look on his face.

“But I feel strange not having introduced myself properly. You will have to forgive me my mind has been filled with worry to think straight. My name is Xiaolong Wu but you can just call me Xavier. It is nice to meet you both.” Another smile filled his face,

---

---

In the days since the cult incident, Miyuki hadn't done a lot out of the ordinary. But now, every time she had to go out--which she did as little as possible--she spent much more time looking over her shoulders, or questioning her contracted demon about every supposedly suspicious person in sight.

More than once, she'd seen those little goblins again, and a few other demons. A handful of times, she'd either had to defend herself, or had mustered up the courage to hunt them down. Lham Dearg was able to take care of them, though sometimes the girl had to whack them with her own bokken--which she now carried just about everywhere she went, despite being overly conscious of people staring at the tote-bag hanging from her shoulder all the time. People were probably starting to think she was some kind of delinquent!

It was hard to keep focused on her classwork at college, and more of her peers were openly talking about all the different rumors. Demon appearances were getting more frequent, and news about Satoshi Miura's involvement with the cult--as well as the "drug-induced infighting" at their gathering--was starting to spread too. Every time she turned on the TV, the fear that someone might've recorded her, Xavier Wong, and the other girl hurting those brainwashed people caused a hard lump to form in her throat.

But, she had learned a few things as well. Using the college library as well as local bookstores, she'd started a small collection on various cultures' demonology and fairy tales. Thanks to her father's love of Western literature she was already familiar with many medieval legends as well as some of the concepts from Christianity and Judaism, but as she read up on other mythologies--like the Unseelie Courts, Jack Frost, and the Greek Cyclops--the more some of what she'd encountered started to make its own strange kind of sense.

Underneath her curiosity, however, troubling thoughts darkened her dreams. Because if all of these monsters could be real...what about things like ghosts? Or Heaven and Hell? And if those things could be real too, then what if her father...

Thankfully, Mr. Wong's number had shown up on her phone before she could dive too deep into her own anxieties.

---

---

@Eviledd1984@The WorldAs the waiter set the small plate of chicken karaage, rice, and shredded cabbage in front of her, Miyuki nodded her thanks while staring at her lap. This whole time she'd barely been able to look Mr. Wong in the eye, and she was super self-conscious of sitting next to Hikari--she flinched any time she thought she might've accidentally bumped the other girl or put an elbow too far over the boundary of "personal space."

But, with a gulp and a trembling jaw, she managed to look up over her glasses and speak.

"E-eto...I d-did have a dream like that, y-yes..." She glanced around the rest of the restaurant. There was no one immediately near their table, and Xavier was clearly the most suspicious person in the building thanks to his ridiculous outfit. Then again, a movie star probably had to avoid paparazzi somehow...

"B-But I don't know if I was really...picked to, um, save the world." She glanced over at Hikari. "I was just told that something was c-c-coming, and that if I wanted someone to save me, I'd have to...to call out to a demon."

Nothing appeared behind her. No one else in the restaurant noticed anything. But Xavier and Hikair, her fellow "chosen," would be able to sense the subtle spiritual presence of Lham Dearg looming over his master, like an extra shadow. She put her hand--the marked one--on the table.

"B-but...I d-don't think I can j-just, um, just sit back while these m-monsters are attacking people, or weirdos like Satoshi are trying to brainwash us!" She suddenly blushed as she realized she'd gotten more excited than she intended, having bounced a little in her seat with a shake of her fist. "If, if I can be of any help...I'd, well...I would like to try...if you'd be okay with that, I mean..." She poked the tips of her fingers together awkwardly.

Then, one strand of her hair suddenly shot straight up as her eyes brightened.

"Ah, wait! Gaburieru--I think that's, um, Gabriel, Mr. W-wong! The Christian Archangel!" She gulped again as she looked at Hikari. "If it's related to Christianity, then that makes sense that they'd have ties to Catholicism!" But now her fire dimmed as she looked back down at the table, and picked up one of her karaage with her chopsticks. "Although...if Satoshi was claiming that he was going to save the world too, and has angels on his side...does that mean we were fighting for the, um...for the wrong side?" As she quieted herself with food, she looked towards Hikari in hopes that the other girl would have something to contribute too.

@Zeroth

Xiaolong Wu

Xavier looked at his phone staring at a text he sent by Hikari. She wouldn’t be able to come to the restaurant. From his conversation with her, he found out that she had to deal with some family issues that came up. He hoped that nothing terrible had happened to her. The first thought that came into his head was the cult having found one of her family members. But from the conversation that didn’t seem to be the case. Xavier took a huge gulp from the beer glass. Listening to Hikari’s comment about having the same dream as him, he was nodding his head while she spoke. Her version of the dream seemed to match his dream a few weeks ago. Turning his head a little so he could get a better look at the mark on the back of her hand. Moving his hand so he could see the same mark that was on the back of his hand.

“I would be more than happy to have you help me. I just want to know why we were chosen, and who exactly we’re supposed to be fighting.” Xavier now started to eat his food. Although it was very small portions he was putting into his mouth. It seemed talking about this subject lessened his hunger.

“You mean the arch-angel Gabriel? Why would an angel associate themselves with a cult? Unless this angel is using the cult for recruitment. That would be the only conclusion I can think of. But what I’m curious about is what is the goal of the cult.” He took another sip of his beer before continuing to talk. “I am not sure whose side we are on. But all I know is this cult cannot be trusted, and we must stop them before any more people get hurt. Whether it’s Satoshi’s cult or that satanic one that one member mentioned.” He said now taking bigger bites of his food.