Chapter 14: A Stray Devil Is Saved(Rewrite)
After that day, Esdeath joined the training class of Baraqiel and she proved herself to be a battle genius. She was also a true battle maniac so she fit right in with Kurayami and Raynare.
Akeno did not share in this obsession as she was obsessed with magic. That was worse in some cases as Azazel was supplying her with grimoires of evil dead mages. On another note, Vali would still come to their class to spar with all of them.
Vali never quit despite his losses and laughed them off. He was like a little brother so they all encouraged him to keep going. The more he fought the more power he drew from his heritage and Albion.
On another note, Kurayami finally finished growing his 4th pair of wings. This was where Fallen Angels and Angels began to push for the top of the totem pole. This was the expected outcome as his Father was a Cadre a 10 Winged Fallen.
The sheer amount of training and gifts he had led to this moment. It made Raynare and Akeno jealous as he had reached it first so they pushed themselves harder. Esdeath as a human did not have the same power as them, but she did not let it stop her.
She even challenged Kurayami who had to hold back a substantial amount not to kill her. Like at this moment Esdeath was using her Sacred Gear to the limit. Waves of Demonic ice were blasted toward him.
With waves of his hands, Incinerate Anthem burned them to ash as the Holy energies in the flames countered the Demonic Energies. She launched pillars of ice, but small bursts of fire destroyed her attacks.
She knew that he was holding back a substantial amount. If he went all out he probably would accidentally kill her which was not what he was trying to do. He just wanted her to push herself against a stronger opponent like him.
He was not moving from his spot and was not using any of his swords. He just stayed on the defensive as he deflected her ranged attacks and parried her physical attacks with his hands. She was doing well for being at such a disadvantage.
That made Vali laugh as he held his arms which were wrapped in bandages. Kurayami was ruthless when he fought, but Vali liked that.
"Yes, be stronger my rival. It shall be soon that I shall win."
On his shoulder was a small dragon plushie that spoke to him.
"You still think that my host?"
"Of course Albion, I shall defeat him in time."
Raynare laughed at him as he was still on that.
"You really won't give up?"
"NEVER!"
*BOOM*
The explosion shook the room and Raynare, Akeno, and Vali were protected by Baraqiel who formed a shield to block off the danger. After that, Esdeath was gasping for air as the big moves drained her. She fell to her knees, but she still tried to get up.
Kurayami looked at her as she was about to pass out with how taxing Demon Extract was on her. She had only been training for 1 month for real with it so this was her limit. Still, her trying to get up was beyond his expectations.
"You did well to last this long as a human. Be proud, you stand among the strong of humanity."
She frowned at just the fact she was human limited her.
"How unfair is it that you just need to grow more wings to get stronger?"
"It's not that easy, but not untrue."
Baraqiel was very proud of his son as he had already gotten his 4th pair of wings which caused his innate powers as a Fallen to rise with it. He got a much higher mastery over his innate Holy Lightning and Light Magic.
He clapped to get their attention making everyone look at him.
"You are all growing stronger by the day and that was the last spar of the day. Now it's magic class."
They all sighed as magic training consisted of math and equations, yet it was worth it. For the most part, Fallen Angle magic was very similar to demonic power. It did not require anything extra and just imagination.
However human magic still had its uses so they were forced to learn both. They all went to the equivalent of a classroom where they were tested like a normal school. Esdeath was no fool, but she hated learning this. Raynare also hated learning magic, but power is power.
Akeno was more than happy to learn as she and Kurayami shared this trait. If anything they rubbed off on each other because of their innate connection as twins. It was different in the Supernatural community as twins were impossibly rare.
They spent a total of 2 hours in a lecture, books, and tests. Meanwhile, Azazel was out in the unexplored lands of the Underworld as there had been reports that the dangerous SS class Devil he was looking for was spotted and he was interested in recruiting her.
If nothing could be done he would leave it as it didn't involve him and besides he couldn't get the reward for her capture. As he flew around he spotted a black mist that was this stray's means of laying traps and deterred her pursuers. He sighed and landed in the mist retracted his 12 wings and kept walking forward while keeping a relaxed posture.
"Finally found you."
As he kept walking he finally came across who he was looking for. She was about years 13 years old and looked ready to flee. He raised his hands and looked up at the young cat in the tree.
"I guess you are the super dangerous SS class stray devil. You might not know who I am, but I am Azazel. I have a small proposition for you if you are willing to hear me out. How about it?"
Kuroka looked at him with a wary look. She knew if he wanted to capture her it would take him no effort at all. She might as well talk.
"What do you want?"
"I was interested in inviting you to join Grigori. I have nothing against Devils, and you are being hunted. I feel it would be a good chance for you to stop fleeing."
She flinched when she heard she was hunted, but it was true. For her sister, she became a devil and a fugitive and she will do anything to get her back.
"Why do you want to recruit me? What do you gain out of it? What do I gain out of it if I agree?"
He smiled and backed off to let her relax a bit.
"A place to not always flee like an animal. Maybe learn more about how to get stronger. A team you can count on and I would like you to teach a few kids near your age senjutsu.
Still, she was surprised that they wanted to learn senjutsu as besides Touki and a few other uses it was not worth the effort for most races as they could be cursed by the negative energy in the chi they gathered.
"If I join I have one condition."
Azazel decided to hear her out.
"What is it?"
"When I became a Devil, I did it for my younger sister. She was turned into a Devil as well and I want her back. Will you help me get her back from the Devils?"
Azazel stopped smiling and thought about it. It could cause a war, but if no one knew he was involved. It would just be a stray devil doing it.
"I can help with that as long as Grigori is not helping you out in the light. It will have to seem like you are working alone."
She felt it was reasonable.
"As long as I have help to get her back I will do anything. She is all I have left."
He pulled out a card and threw it to her. She caught it and looked at it.
"Just fill it up with your demonic power or Senjutsu and you will be taken to Grigori. It is up to you when you want to go. I will take my leave."
A magic circle opened under him and he vanished leaving Kuroka to think about her sister.
'Shirone I swear I will get you back. Even if I have to start a war for it.'
She cleared up the miasma as she used poison for certain races and filled up her card and a magic circle opened up under her. Next, she knew she was in an office, and in front of her was Azazel who arrived first. This looked more like a job interview than anything.
"I see you decided to accept. These are the kids I want you to teach it to."
He showed pictures of Kurayami, Akeno, Raynare, Esdeath, and Vali. She looked at them and saw they were all a little older than her sister.
"Why do you want me to teach it to them?"
"To be frank, the 5 of them are incredible assets for any war against Devils. They are so talented it is getting out of hand."
She realized something then.
"They are your task force?"
"Kinda. Take it as a Death Squad if war is inevitable. You could join them as well. I made a promise to get your sister back, so I will do my best. However, now that you know this I can't let you leave. You don't have to join, but this is just a security reason."
She was surprised. She was strong in her own right and even reached the Ultimate Class yet that was her limit. As a result of the experiments, she went under made her potential stagnate. Azazel could tell a bit and offered her a bit of help.
"I could help you try to see if we can help. I heard a bit of what happened back then and we can try to heal it."
Her ears perked up as not being able to grow stronger made her quite enraged at what was done to her.
"I doubt you can do much, but anything is better than nothing."
She shook her head and he extended his hand.
"You agree?"
She shook his hand and nodded.
"I agree."
Azazel smiled as he managed to get another strong person in his organization.
"Come on, let's have you meet them."
He led her to where they were and saw all of them reading. Azazel turned to Baraqiel as he knew what this was.
"Magic Training."
He nodded while looking at them.
"Yes."
Azazel knew all too well how the process of learning human magic was a pain in the ass. Unlike devils who just imagined stuff, human magic had to use equations to do it. Good thing Fallen magic was similar to devils.
Azazel called out to them.
"Pay attention for a moment. You wanted to learn senjutsu and I got someone to do it. Introduce yourself if you will"
Kuroka cleared her voice and smiled at them. It was awkward as she was not much older than they were. Only 3 years older.
"I am Kuroka. I agreed to teach you Senjutsu if you have the talent for it."
Raynare and Kurayami were instantly interested. They walked over to her to ask her how it worked. The ability to use your life force and Touki was too good for close-range fighters like them.
Akeno also wanted to use it, but more for the magic aspect of it. Esdeath was curious and wanted to know what it was.
"So what is Sejustsu and why should we learn it?"
Kuroka smiled and her body was covered in a white aura and suddenly appeared in front of Esdeath poking her on the nose. Strong or not Esdeath was a kid and an ultimate class being is still a strong one.
"That was touki, Nya. It lets you use your life force to increase your physical prowess."
That got Esdeath's attention and she quieted down. Kuroka continued her explanation of what it was.
"Well to be frank it uses Aura, chakra, or chi, and turning your life force into a constant stream Nya. By doing so you can live longer, be stronger, and do this."
Her right hand was covered in black fire-like balls and she launched them at a wall. When they hit the damage was quite good. Kurayami wondered if he could make a new type of flame that burned life force.
"Well not only that by using your chi you will make your internal and external bodies stronger with your powers, However, it will also be quite the power for you to have Nya. However, learning it can be dangerous as by using it you have the chance to be corrupted but the malice and ill will of the world. Who will still try to learn it?"
She didn't say Nya which meant she was serious. Kurayami, Akeno, Raynare, Esdeath, and Vali all raised their hands. Vali had to learn powers besides his sacred gear as his grandfather could cancel sacred gears, so depending on it would lead to trouble. Raynare, Akeno, Esdeath, and Kurayami just saw it as a great addition to their fighting styles.
"Well, none of you gave up. That's good Nya. Tomorrow onward we will spend a few hours meditating outside in nature until I see you have a grasp. Let me warn you not all of you may learn it as learning it for other races can be extremely hard Nya."
They all accepted. Esdeath was the one to say it out loud.
"Even if it fails at least we tried."
They all nodded as they were not against failure as you could learn from a failure. Azazel grinned and clapped once again.
"Well seems you will have even less time to relax. You will spend the mornings training with her and your afternoons sparing training and magic training."
That was fine with them as learning when you were young was the best. After that, Azazel left afterward. Now that she got a chance to look at Kurayami she could see a vast aura of darkness around him.
It was pure agony and suffering as no matter how happy he was, he was still tormented by his life. He was a month away from turning 11, but he was already taller than she was. She was only 5'3, and he was 5'5 already.
"What's with your emotions? It feels like you have all of them, yet none of them at the same time."
Raynare, Akeno, Vali, and Esdeath turned to look at him. He came up with a lie on the spot.
"Bad luck."
Kuroka used telepathy to speak with him.
'What kind of torture did you go through to have a broken mind? Your mind shattered once.'
It was the truth, but she was the first to notice.
'I rather not say, but you are the same as me, right? Tortured before so you understand.'
Her cat ears twitched as she knew he found out.
'How could you tell?'
'I know the feeling, so I know how someone who was tortured acts.'
She looked down but said this out loud.
"I gave myself over to Devils to save my sister. But they wanted to experiment on her after they felt I was a failure. I joined Azazel who will help me get my sister back. Dumb right?"
Akeno shook her head.
"I know what caring for your sibling is like. So not dumb."
Vali had no siblings, but he knew what being mistreated felt like. Esdeath did not give any encouraging words, but she did understand. For now, though, after introducing herself Kuroka excused herself.
As she walked away she looked right into Kurayami. She stared right at the malice, pain, suffering, and near-emotionless husk that he had been turned into. At the same time, it was not all hopeless for him as he had people he trusted.
'Just maybe.'
She ignored the little thought in the back of her mind and went focusing on the future. Getting her sister back.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone