*BLAM!*
The maintenance door slammed open, and from inside two silhouettes came rushing out to the mall's interior.
*sniff-sniff*
"Eww, what a foul smell! That demon really should consider taking a bath once in a while. This way Homu-nyan!"
Koneko fixes her glasses and literally flew forward in an inhuman speed. Her feet never touched the ground, it's like she was hitching a ride on the wind.
Behind her was Nakayama, who easily matched Koneko's unbelievable speed by running.
"Don't worry, once we're done, that demon will be bathed in blood. How far is it?"
"Uuu, Homu-nyan's so scary… We’re close, I can smell Shizu's gunpowder too. Oho! She’s using her special mix!"
"Magic bullets?"
"Yep! This time it's a combination of fire and earth magic, it smelled like charcoal though."
"I don't care how it smells, as long as it's effective."
"Yare-yare, Homu-nyan's way too serious on everything… Oh! There she is!!"
A girl with silver hair jumped backwards to their direction as she shot a few bullets to an unknown creature in front of her.
*don don don!* three small explosions erupt at the creature's body, effectively knocking it back by a few feets.
"Whoa!? A lion??"
Koneko shouted as she took a clear look on the large beast.
"It appears so. Shizuko, what's the status of the civilians?"
The silver haired girl, Hamada Shizuko landed near where Nakayama and Koneko were standing. She pulled a red colored speed loader[6] from the small bag on her hips.
"They've successfully escaped. Nana, do you recognize this lion demon?"
Hamada still focusing her attention to the black lion that's growling at them, while her hand swiftly pulled the revolver's bullet chamber, emptied it and used the speed loader to quickly reload her revolver with fresh bullets. The empty shells that fell had somehow vaporized mid air.
"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell. A lion-shaped demon were quite rare, could it be a high ranked demon?"
GRAAAAA!!!
"We can talk later, first, we need to take care of this thing."
Nakayama pulled her wooden bokken with a motion of pulling a katana off its sheath.
She kicked the floor and launched herself toward the black lion's direction, cutting the distance between them in a flash.
She swings her bokken diagonally upward, slashing the lion square on the chest. Her attack was quickly followed by a torrent of gunshots, coming from Hamada’s revolver. It seems that she had tweaked the revolver to be able to shoot consecutively and somehow reduced its massive recoil.
Six explosions blast the black lion’s head, but they’re not done just yet. Koneko who had been chanting from the moment Nakayama attacked, points her left index finger to the lion and said,
"Pierce through my enemy..."
A cold shill swirled in front of her finger, creating a somewhat icicle construct.
At first it was as big of a pen, and then it quickly grew larger to the size of a baseball bat. It kept on growing until it created a spear of ice.
"Shimo Yajirushi!![7]"
As the ice spear finished materializing, it immediately flew forward, piercing through the battlefield.
True to its name, the Frost Arrow travels in such speed like it was shot by an invisible bow. Leaving a slight trail of ice on the floor it passed.
With a loud crash, the Frost Arrow smashed into the black lion's chest.
The black lion staggered backwards, roaring in pain.
"Ice?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, it's elementary my dear Shizu-tan. A lion is the embodiment of a flame spirit, as demonic as this one is, I don't think there would be any difference on its element."
"I see, so that's why my bullets didn't do much on it."
Her magic bullets [Red Baron] was a combination of condensed fire and earth magic in a single bullet, when the bullet exits the gun, the magic inside the bullet started to react and creating something like a chemical reaction. When the bullet hits the enemy, the container would break and all the energy that was held inside will burst, causing a large explosion.
But since it concentrated heavily on fire element for its destructive power, it couldn't do much to the black lion in front of her.
Hamada picked up another speed loader from her waist bag, but this one had a tinge of blue on the bullets. She reloads her revolver as fast as she could and aimed for the lion's head.
Meanwhile, Nakayama who was right between them hold her grounds, not letting the lion move another step forward. She skillfully deflects the scythe-like claws and avoided the snapping jaws of the black lion with graceful moves. It's as if she was performing a Kagura dance[8] instead of fighting with a demonic lion.
"Chief!"
"…"
Nakayama, as if she could see what's happening behind her, deflects another claw attack and then leaped to her left.
Right at that precise moment, Hamada squeezed the trigger of her revolver.
*Bang!*
A small bluish green colored bullet exits the barrel. After a few meter distance from the barrel, the bullet shattered. Unleashing a flurry of small ice blades that flew towards the black lion.
Combining the speed of wind magic with the flexibility of water magic, such is the power of the magic bullet [Northern Wind].
But, choosing quantity over quality do have its own cost. The black lion who was hit by the initial wave of the ice hail immediately leaped backwards and lets out an ear-splitting roar. Destroying most of the icicle blades flying at it. Only some gets through and scratches the thick skin of the black lion, creating small minor wounds all over its body.
"Che! What a troublesome demon!"
"TORYAAAAA!!!"
Nakayama didn't give the lion any time to recover after the roar. She leaped into the air, lifting her bokken high above her head. And by using the power of gravity, she unleashed a powerful downward slash at the lion's head.
The lion growled in pain as it leaped backwards, keeping its distance from its three attackers.
After a few moments of silence, the unthinkable happened.
"Guhahahaha!! And they told me that the slayers in this city were just a bunch of ragtags! What a farce!"
The lion had somehow spoken with perfect english, surprising Nakayama and the others.
"To injure me this much in my current state... you three are truly worthy of praise."
"Who the hell are you? And what do you want?"
"In your human tounge, I would be called Arioch. As for the second question, it's been more than five moons since I ate, I'm quite hungry you see?"
"Sorry, but the buffet is closed, permanently!"
"So it seems, I'll just have to find someplace else to eat."
The lion nodded as if it understood the situation clearly. He would find another place filled with human beings. After all, all demons have a certain taste for human flesh. If we had the saying 'tastes like chicken', the same goes for the demons: 'tastes like human.'
"Sorry. but you're not going anywhere."
Nakayama pointed her bokken to the black lion with a challengging manner.
"Oh? Interesting... I don't have time to play, but..."
GROAAARR!!!
A pillar of flame suddenly burst from where the lion stands. enveloping its whole body. But instead of harming the lion, the flame pillar did the opposite. The small cuts all around the lion's body shrunk in size before it disappeared completely. The large wound on its chest had also disappeared, the black lion now stands at its full glory.
Regeneration!?? Damn... Of all the annoying abilities it could have.
"Nana, I want you to restict its movement. Shizu, cover me."
"Right-o!"
"Roger."
Nakayama kicked the floor and leaped forward, brandishing her bokken. Behind her, Hamada knelt down and aimed her magnum revolver carefully to her back in a slightly upward angle.
*BANG*
The [Northern Wind] explodes in mid-air right above Nakayama's head, raining down at the lion like a hailstorm.
Most of the icicle blades melted because of the flame pillar's heat before it could reach the lion. Yet, a few did manage to get through and disrupts the lion's incantations. And if that's not enough...
"...succumb to the clutches of darkness, Kuroi no Kiba!![9]"
Seven oddly shaped black shadows manifests itself around Arioch. And in a flash, thick black spikes as dark as the night thrusts from within the shadows, trapping the lion on its position. It also broke the flame pillar's incantation completely.
"Homu-nyan!"
"Nakayama-ryuu, Tatsumaki Kougeki!![10]"
Nakayama swung her bokken right at the lion's chest, hitting it with a few continuous horizontal slashes. She was so fast that no normal man could even see the movement of her arm as she slashed six times at the lion.
Knocked back by the sudden combination attack, Arioch growled in anger.
"You have no idea who you are challenging..."
With a loud roar, a large explosion erupts with the lion at its center. The explosion sends countless waves of flames in the shape of scythes to every direction.
"Che!"
Nakayama who bolted toward Arioch was forced to retreat while dodging several flame scythes that flew at her.
The same goes with Hamada and Koneko, though because of their faraway position, they could easily dodge the flame scythes. The rest of the flame scythe destroyed most of the second floor's interior, including the shops. A few of them had already catching fire, creating a truly hellish view.
"Let's end this."
Arioch raised its head, in a motion like he was inhaling as much air as he can.
"!!?? No way!?"
Koneko who was a magic user, was the first to realize what Arioch is doing. He was absorbing mana from everything around him, and in an enormous amount too.
With the amount of mana Arioch had amassed, even a newbie mage would know that this won't be just a regular fireball spell.
"Homura! Get behind me, NOW!! Shizuko, no matter what, don't move from my back."
Koneko shouts to Nakayama and immediately chant a spell.
"Inari no Okami, grant us your protection,"
Koneko pulled a small white cloth from her pocket and quickly unwrap it. Revealing the white rice she had used to track Arioch earlier. Nakayama joined the two as she leaped back from the frontlines. She glanced at Koneko's face for a second, and then stood behind her without any questions.
"Please accept my offering and protect us from the wrath of the elements,"
She spreads the white rice to the floor in front of her.
"For I am the descendant of the wise white fox!"
The white rice that's scattered on the floor rose up to the air and gathered around in front of Koneko, creating something that resembles a large white curtain.
Just as she finished her chanting, Arioch the black lion turned its head to them. A large hexagram appeared right under its paws, like it was drawn by an invisible hand.
"Now DIE!!!"
The hexagram underneath Arioch glowed bright red, and...
BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!
[6] Speed loader : a small metal bullet holder with six bullets locked in place, all the user need to do was push the button at the center to release the bullets.
[7] Shimo Yajirushi : literally Frost Arrow.
[8] Kagura dance : a Japanese ceremonial dance, usually performed by miko at a shrine. The kagura dance differs depending on the shrine, at one shrine the miko would perform with a fan, at another shrine the miko would perform using an ornamental sword, and at some other shrine the miko will use both items.
[9] Kuroi Kiba : Black Fang
[10]Nakayama-ryuu, Tatsumaki Kougeki : lit. Nakayama style, Hurricane Strike. A sword style unique to the Nakayama Family, it was modified by Homura to suit her fighting style with a bokken. The original move was named Tatsumaki Ryuzan, consisting of six consecutive horizontal slashes with incredible speed.
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