A Devil’s Path (Whitebrand and Tigra9)

[Whitebrand]

“A church,” Kirinka corrected. “There’s more than one. With all kinds of ideaologies. Protestant preachers and exorcists. Putting on a show nearby, claiming they’re trying to ‘win souls’. This feels like a scouting expedition to me.I doubt it’s a coincidence, this being our first day.”

Stephen awoke from the sleeping spell early...face down half bent over a trash can. He made his way to the class...and found everyone asleep.

“This isn’t weird at all,” he said as he looked around the room.

[tigra9]

Eleena frowned “we have been here for a year... they should know it’s our territory” she commented as she read over the flier and sighed holding her hand out as a magic circle appeared and out flew a small bat, one of Eleena’s familiars, her servants each had one but Eleena had four but she spoke to the bat “check out the churches without being caught, if it looks risky don’t press it just get out” the bat squeaked then flew off and Eleena turned her attention to the men “have their memories been altered?”

Seras shook her head “nope, I tried and I couldn’t, something is blocking my abilities”

Eleena frowned more “is that so...” she walked over and placed a hand on one of the men’s forehead her hand glowing and after a moment she backed off “there I got it... but they have barriers on their mind really tough ones... I need to do it one at a time and I can only remove their recent memories of the past hour I can’t do more then that... troubling”

[Whitebrand]

“An hour should be enough,” Kirinka said. “This is smelling like Fallen more and more. But why call attention to themselves?”

As the devils got to work, unseen men of a very different sort watched. Any time they came close to being seen they dropped out of sight. Their target wasn’t out in the open so they waited. The devils could be dispatched by making them encounter their old enemies, so they were not a concern.

Stephen, meanwhile, was at something of a loss. He shoved on some of his peers, trying to wake them. Seras voujd feel the tiny disruption in her spell.

[tigra9]

Eleena shook her head “if it was the fallen’s doing they wouldn’t make it this obvious”

Seras put a finger to her lips “they were speaking from the Bible... also hold on there is something wrong” she looked back towards the school “someone is awake?”

Buccha looked at Seras “wait? Someone is awake at the school not us? Is it any of the humans we know know about us?”

Seras shook her head “no, those students are asleep aswell none of them could resist the barrier spell, I’ll check it out” she walked back inside making a beeline for where she sensed the disturbance and opened the room acting innocent “oh, someone else is awake?” She spoke sounding genuinely shocked to find someone awake, well she was shocked but for a different reason then most people would think

[Whitebrand]

“Unless they were desperate for something,” Kirinka guessed. “The Fallen are powerful but tyey’re The clumsiest spies in the world.”

Stephen was rooting around in his pack. The instant Seras made herself known he shoved whatever it was back into it.

“Sensei!” He exclaimed, sounding intensely relived. “What’s happened? Everyone is unconscious...like they’ve been drugged or something! But there’s no trace of gas or anything. I was about to call the police...”

[tigra9]

Eleena frowned as she kept working “I wonder about that”

Seras sounded relieved slightly as she spoke “ah I’m not sure myself but it’s this same way throughout the school, I’ve already called the police though” she walked over to Stephen and put her hand on his shoulder “shall we wait here together then?” She asked him drawing his attention away from her hand, or more specifically the spell she was casting by magic circle under her palm, it was a localized version of the spell the barrier had to put humans to sleep, and partly because of that this version was expressly more powerful as a result

[Whitebrand]

“Yeah, I...”

Thump.

Stephen dropped like a puppet at the end of a show. Sound asleep just like the rest. His bag dropped to the floor with a muffled clank. The disruption in her spell was smooth again.

[tigra9]

Seras let out a breath “there we go... issue resolved” she said before bending down to look into his bag, it wasn’t proper of her to invade another’s privacy sure, but she was a devil, for them such a thing was a minor concern which combined with Seras wanting to insure it wasn’t anything that could cause problems down the road was all the Damphyr turned devil needed.

Eleena straightened up after finishing with the last guy then spread out her hair, her skirt and jacket from the uniform she made while she was working unraveling and forming out the circle she encountered and she then stared at it “hmm fallen angel, fairy, magic, and devil letters.... a blend of four? That is... that can’t be right” she tilted her head, magic formulas that were blended from multiple magic types was not as good as it might sound, by their very nature magic formulas did not agree with formulas from a different group of magic

Buccha crosses his arms “shouldn’t a spell like that have been unstable and useless from the beginning?”

Eleena nodded “yep in every way, but it requires a high class devil to put a fair amount of effort to break past”

[Whitebrand]

At first glance the pack just contained the usual...school books, notes in Japanese and English, pens and pencils...sketches of pretty and buxom anime girls...but no source of the metallic clank. Until she discovered that the pack had a false bottom.

Nine shuriken were strapped to the bottom of the pack. Set atop them was two narrow cases that contained a nunchaku and a neatly looped fighting chain. The weapons looked customized and used. There was also a cloth that turned out to be a full head mask.

She might have thought that this was a kid with a ninja fetish except that the weapons were made of real steel and had seen actual use. Massively illegal for anyone but a martial art student to carry.

Kirinka frowned at the strange formula. It didn’t make sense at all. Unless...

“What if this was a one-shot spell?” She suggested. “Something meant to come apart after use? The discharge of the mixed Magic might have made analysis nearly impossible.”

[tigra9]

Seras would be surprised when she discovered the false bottom and what was in it frowning as she looked at the boy “.....” she remained silent but simply reached into the backpack and touched each item inside the false bottom, a secretive tracking spell being placed on them. She didn’t know who this kid really was, but since these things were illegal even for a martial arts student to carry it went without saying she was going to ensure she kept an eye on this kid form now on big time.

Eleena put a hand to her chin in thought “hmm a one time use spell makes sense, but even then this would take a level of genius to work for any longer then a second” she hmmed and pulled out a cellphone from her hair taking a picture of it “I’ll have this sent securely to Beelzebub-sama, he should be able to figure something out” she closed her phone and looked at her servants “you three go back to class I’m gonna have Seras undone the spell soon, I’ll take care of these guys” she commented holding a hand out and forming a magic circle that made a copy under the men before they vanished, having been teleported away, though only Eleena knew exactly where their destination was, she wasn’t going to share the truth with her servants.

[Whitebrand]

Kirinka and the others dutifully returned to their classes. When the sleep spell was released everything returned to normal.

Except for Stephen, who remained asleep. Netting him a public scolding by his teacher when he woke up.

*. *. *

Kirinka was on her way to the parking lot where Eleena’s car waited for them. Seeing some of her fan club laying in wait, she took a short cut between a couple of buildings...and was confronted by a pair of disreputable looking boys she knew had yakuza connections.

“Well now...the queen of the campus comes down from on high.”

They were leering at her chest, of course. She gave the pair a coy smile and produced her fan, unfolding it before her face as though embarrassed. The effort it would take to deal with these two idiots was going to be barely worth the effort...

Someone dropped from above, handing on one of the boys and planting his face into the cement. The second boy had just enough time to blink before he caught a foot to the face. The beat-down that followed was brutal and quick, with both punks falling to their attacker in a matter of seconds.

The masked rescuer looked down at the two idiots.

“I’d ask if you guys had learned your lesson,” he said cheerily. “But let’s get real.”

Kirinka stared at the masked young man while he gave her a jaunty salute before parkouring up the wall and disappearing into a window. She was fairly sure she could guess who’s face was under that stupid mask. Who did he think he was fooling?

“Amateur,” Kirinka scoffed as she walked past the beaten boys and made her way to the parking lot. She felt oddly offended that the American had felt she’d needed rescue. She chose to ignore him and arrived at the limousine on time.

[tigra9]

Eleena would be waiting in the car calmly, in truth their group lived in a basement floor that got added to the old school building but because of appearances they had to actually leave the school grounds normally on days they didnt seem to have club, it was only a little after school that day and Eleena would be looking over a folder she had been given

Seras was sitting in the car opposite Eleena having teleported into it to be unnoticed, the folder she had given Eleena was the student folder of Stephen’s “what do you think my lady?” She asked

Eleena sighed rubbing her forehead “it all appears normal, but you say he had ninja tools hidden in his bag and actually woke up from that spell on his own? That is quite concerning in a different way” she sighed handing the folder back “keep an eye on him as before, I will decide on what to actually do about him tomorrow... perhaps we should also think about implementing metal detectors, humans can only do so much to hide metallic objects”

Seras nodded “understood, also Buccha and esayle said they would loop back to our base through the usual means for tonight’s devil job”

Eleena didn’t respond to the mention of Buccha and esayle since it was originally set up that way on her orders for appearance, they had to have atleast one day a week without official club duties so this was the designated day they were currently on and for the sake of appearance she had esayle and Buccha just leave on foot while she and Kirinka were chaperoned away, Seras usually just stayed at the school until the sun set because nobody would question the school doctor staying at the school until late

[Whitebrand]

Kirinka climbed into the limousine looking only slightly out of sorts. She got out a pad from her pack and started reeling off the accomplishments of the day and the “to do” list. She ignored any mention of Stephen at all.

“Metal detectors aren’t as easy to approve in Japan as they are in the states,” Kirinka pointed out. “We would have to provide just cause for it, and that might unsettle the student body. Not to mention how it would hurt the reputation of the school. The preparations for tonight have gone smoothly and there appear to be no problems beyond the Christian revival event. It was approved by the city so we won’t have any say in it. We should just avoid it, I think. Whatever they are here for it probably isn’t us.”

[tigra9]

Eleena listened to Kirinka and hmmed “is that so... well then” she said troubled “this is quite annoying” she looked out the window as the driver started the vehicle and it drove off “that church was.. abandoned wasn’t it? So why would there be a sudden revival event, really nothing adds up to me” she said calmly, it bothered her but she agreed to just leave it be.

After they arrived underground at the very small parking bay under the school she got out with her two servants and went to take the stairs, there was an elevator but Eleena didn’t want to use it as they did need their exercise occasionally, they would after climbing six floors worth of stairs come out via a hidden panel in the first floor of the old school building and then Eleena lead the way to their club room that doubled as the room where they did their devil’s work and took her seat behind the desk, the room was covered in markings and clippings of stuff related to the occult, but in truth only one marking in the room held any true importance, a single large circle carved into the floor with a unicorn and lightning in the center of the carving, the emblem of the Amdusias family.

Buccha and Esayle would be the last to arrive and Buccha just after arriving simply took a seat on one of the couches set next to a small table to relax, they couldn’t start their devils work until after sunset so there was time for the group to somewhat relax and work on homework, only Eleena truly had any work to do outside of her homework this early

[Whitebrand]

“Revival events are evangelical events,” Kirinka said. “And generally not connected to specific churches. They are usually held as an effort to raise money for specific causes or as outreach...or more likely publicity. It depends on the group. I can ask a couple of people to attend the event if you like. Mortals, not anyone who would stand out.”

Kirinka then presented Eleena with her pile of homework. It was quite a dismaying pile...partly because Kirinka had deliberately padded the mountain of papers just to see the look on Eleena’s face.

“This is what happens when you get sick,” she told her with a straight face.

[tigra9]

Eleena seeing the pile of homework got a shocked expression then after a moment looked at Kirinka and asked “and how much of this is padding?” She had figured it out pretty quick but Kirinka didn’t fail to get the reaction she was hoping to see atleast

Buccha sweatdropped a bit seeing it, properly speaking the amount of homework any of them got was incredibly small “Kirinka don’t go teasing mistress so much” he commented

Eleena nodded “yes what he said... and that might be a smart idea, though let’s send someone we can trust, there is that guy down on Sakura street... I’ll send my familiar to him”

[Whitebrand]

Kirinka smiled and nodded.

“It shall be as you wish,” she said. Whether that was about the teasing or the decision Kirinka didn’t say.

[tigra9]

Eleena then got to work on her homework after sorting it out of the padding of the pile, Kirinka had been very thorough with that joke!

Meanwhile in another place a female dressed in a tight full body black outfit would be looking at a paper in her hand, by the design of her outfit only an open space for her eyes and her fingers were uncovered, on the back she had a red rectangle symbol as she looked at the paper “if I complete this mission... the rewards would not be small... but really, as inept as he is how is it so hard to freaking track him?!” She complained to herself in a mumble, she was human and had nothing particularly special about her visibly, atleast, if one overlooked the fact she was currently hanging in the shadows of a building roof using only her toes to hang from a small pipe but she pulled her mask open after rolling up the paper and shoved the paper into her mouth chewing and swallowing it, as part of the training this girl had endured eliminating any and all evidence was normal, she could no longer count how many times she had been out in the field and got rid of evidence through her stomach nor did she care. However after a moment her head turned and her eyes focused on someone in the distance “oh, Well now, thank you for hearing my complaints” she commented quietly dropping and pushing off the wall to land on a lower roof then running along it silently, she wasn’t the most skilled of the red banner’s in this town currently, but she had one advantage others lacked that made her perfect for observation and assassination.

[Whitebrand]

Her target had an annoying tendency to stay in large groups at critical moments . The bus to the home he was staying in, the large family he was staying with, and generally disappearing off her radar entirely when he wasn’t at school. It was frustrating. The attack was supposed to be quick, efficient, and undetectable. His annoying habits made it difficult for all three to align properly.

If he was engaging in some sort of activity that threatened the Red Banner she couldn’t see it. To all appearances the target seemed to be a normal teenager...going to school and ogling girls.And getting beaten for his efforts occasionally. Not that determining what his activities were was part of her job. She was just to find a way to eliminate the target without being detected.

She saw him walking along towards the home of his host family amid a small cluster of other teens. He was easy to pick out because none of them were actually walking with him. Clearly for whatever reason he was being isolated by his peers. Maybe an opportunity would come soon after all.

[tigra9]

She observe doing from a roof and then after a moment she noticed something and jumped towards a shadow, her ability was a very useful one, but the requirements she needed to actually use it rendered the ability limited in how she used it, but she would vanish into the shadow she jumped into even her prescience completely and thoroughly vanishing.

As the group of people walked a woman who was holding a basket with papers in it while standing there calmly looking around would spot the crowd and suddenly walked over, she looked to be in her early thirties but truthfully she was utterly plain in every way, her face, her hair, her casual business suit, none of them would notably stand out among a crowd, however she spoke “hey, would any of you like a flier?” She asked though her attention was focused on the boy hiding among the crowd as she held out a flier, a couple others took one but most of the group didn’t, the woman though pulled out an extra holding it out for the boy “take one please, it never hurts to check right?” The flier had a magic circle on it and a single line of text in nice blue kanji ‘get any wish granted, for a small price’