( A Longer chapter than usual as I skipped yesterday to watch anime all day. Records of Ragnarock was not great, but it had its charm. A surprise is in store.)

When they teleported to the base of the mountain and looked up they all felt a strange aura. Kurayami and his group recognized it as sacred gear holders and a cadre. Kurayami looked at Shin. “Boy. Lead us up.” Shin barked and began to sniff the ground and began to lead them up. Kouki looked at Shin as his Byakusa had told him it was dangerous. “Hey, kid. What is that dog?”

Akeno smirked and picked up Shin who yelped as he was taken by surprise. “This is Shin.. He is like your sacred gear, but better in every way.” Kouki’s lips twitched and the cat hissed. “How is that fleabag better?” Kurayami smirked and Shin made blades point at every vital organ on Kouki’s body. “That’s why he is better. Let’s go.” As it was pitch black, Natsume stayed closer to Kurayami as she was afraid of the dark.

The other reason was that Griffon was on his shoulder. Akeno was playing around with the shadows as she had begun to do that when she got her sacred gear. They walked up the mountain moving around the trees and bad terrain. Most of the surrounding landscapes consisted only of fields, mountains, and forests.

After that, there was nothing but darkness. Kurayami, Esdeath, Raynare, Akeno, Tobio, and Baraqiel could see perfectly in the dark Kouki and Natsume couldn’t as they were still human. Barakiel looked around the area and looked at Kurayami. “Kurayami, anyone around?” Kurayami nodded. “Out in the forest, there are a few people.”

Suddenly the weaker members were assaulted by a rather cold sensation. Perhaps it should be called pressure. Something that they couldn’t see was making their skin crawl. As it was pitch black in their dark places, it felt as though they were being watched by that everlasting darkness. Kurayami smiled. “Don’t be afraid of the dark, It is pointless.” Shin barked as he liked the dark.

“The dark is so unpleasant. Makes the atmosphere scary.” While shuddering, Natsume hugged herself as she muttered and walked closer to Kurayami. Shin and Byakusha had been clearly vigilant since entering the forest. However, Shin was much more relaxed than the cat. It would not be strange for the Abyss Team or the ‘Utsusemi Agency’ remnants to appear here at any moment. Suddenly a bush rattled and freaked out Natsume. “Hyah,” She shrieked and hugged Kurayami tightly.

Tobio and Kouki raised their guards, but what emerged was a raccoon while twitching its nose. Kurayami called it and it walked up to him. “Hey, pal. You see a weird guy with brown hair around?” The raccoon made some sounds and Kurayami nodded. “Thank you.” He gave it some magic and suddenly the raccoon doubled in size and ran off. Natsume sighed in relief, “Just a raccoon?” Kouki was bright red and lowered his raised arms and took a deep breath.

Kurayami had Natsume pushing his face in her breasts in fear. He looked up and met her eyes. Natsume detached herself from his head while acting flustered. “I was not scared. I knew it was a raccoon and just felt like you needed a hug.” Natsume spoke with confidence, but she was hanging her head and her face was bright red.

Akeno and Raynare shook their heads. “You can’t freak out about a little sound. Maybe we should leave you in the dark to get over your fear.” Akeno had a sadistic look on her face and licked her lips. Baraqiel noticed and shuddered. ‘Oh no. She is just like Shuri.’ He looked at Kurayami and suddenly Kurayami shuddered. “Dad. I am no masochist like you.” Baraqiel felt his pride shatter and they all looked at him weirdly. “What?” Kouki broke out laughing,

“Big bad Baraqiel is a masochist?” Kurayami nodded. “Mom makes him her toy.” Baraqiel was bright red and Natsue looked like she lost all respect for him and he slammed his foot down. “He is lying” Kurayami smirked. “Sure I am.” No one believed him and they all kept their distance from him. Akeno looked at Kurayami and had a fantasy where she did that to him.

However, that thought was snuffed out by the bonk on her head she got from Kurayami. She held her head with tears in her eyes. “Bad girl. Drop that thought from your head.” She looked down, but a small blush formed on her face. Her long hair hid it and she calmed down. She was both an M and an S however Kurayami was no M and he would not go along with her game.

Everyone suddenly felt something and looked in a certain direction. The weaker ones also turned to face the same way and they experienced a sensation of indescribably ominous chills running through their bodies. From that direction, Kurayami could sense the familiar aura of a cadre. Kurayami spoke up about what it was. “It’s the aura of Satanael. Why would he also show himself here when he knew we would be after him?”

At his son’s words, Barakiel’s expression became complicated. Satanael was once his friend, but now he was the fallen angel who had caused the current incident. He cut ties with Grigori and stole knowledge that was secret and Arondight. Barakiel spoke. “I’m going over there.” As he was about to take off they heard more bushed move and they thought it was another animal.

For a moment they waited for it, but from the shadows of the bush was a frantic lone girl. with her hair braided with dark-tinged features that suggested she was a foreigner. Tobio, Natsume, and Kouki were astonished upon seeing her familiar face. Looking at her heterochromatic eyes.. Her right eye was blue, and her left eye was black.

She was very beautiful and Kurayami spoke up. “Nanadaru Shigune?” She could barely think and was wearing the school uniform of the school she had transferred to, but it had gotten dirty in several places, and there were even parts that were torn revealing some of her skin. She was breathing heavily, which made it clear she had just been fleeing for her life.

She looked at Barakiel as he was an adult and hoped he could help her. “Please help.” Barakiel nodded. “Take a deep breath and relax. You are in shock.” When she calmed down she looked at Natsume, Tobio, and Kouki. “Tobio, Natsume, and Kouki?” She felt relieved as she saw familiar faces. Shigune was so happy that she ended up sinking to the ground right where she was. “Are you alright?”

Kurayami walked up to her and yet his attention was taken by the small creature in her arms. Natsume rushed to her as she felt a woman would be able to calm her down better than a bunch of men. At the same time, Tobio and Kouki, Relaxed their tension to a degree and smiled. Kurayami only cared for one thing. “Is that your Sacred Gear, can I hold it?”

As he said this they all looked at it, and Esdeath, Raynare, and Akneo all grabbed one of his arms and Akeno his head. “Leave it.” Kurayami shook his head. “Come on. Just let me carry it once.” Esdeath shook her head. “No way. You will try to scam her out of it.” He looked offended. “Have I ever done that?” Tobio looked over. “So what happened to me never happened?”

In Shigune’s arms was a small four-legged animal that was wearing a mask over its face. Two horns were growing from its head. The mask had some kind of pattern like that of a character on it. However, the mask’s pattern was one that Kurayami was familiar with. When he was looking for interesting pets to steal he had noticed something identical in a book.

It was a pattern related to Toutetsu, the strongest of the four fiends. In other words, the creature Shigune was holding was a Sacred Gear. Shigune, having been calmed down that had slackened slightly, spoke to them. “We should get away from here! People are using strange powers and are coming for me.” She only said that as a growl was released from Shin.

They looked over towards the dark and Kurayami and his team were relaxed, but Tobio, Kouki, Natsume, and Shigune were nervous. With the sound of flapping wings, Griffon left Kurayami’s shoulder and he perched on Natusme’s shoulder. Kouki prepared as Byakusa moved from his shoulder to his arm and its tails turned into lances. They all felt the thirst for blood.

A weird laugh was heard from in front of them and what appeared in the dark illuminated by Kurayami’s fire that appeared in his hand. it was an uncanny, one-legged, fifty-centimeter stone statue. With tiny wings growing from its back and a single horn on its head, it was quite grotesque.

Barakiel stiffened and shouted as the stone statue suddenly moved as though it was violently shivering. “Close your eyes!” Kurayami just snapped his fingers and the statue was turned to ash by black fire. Barakiel looked at his son and nodded. “Well done. That was the Cursed Statue of Radiance and If one directly looks at the light it releases, it causes blindness.” Natsume gaped. “Isn’t that beyond terrifying?

Baraqiel nodded. “That is just one of the effects. They are ones that would steal eyesight, or possibly lose their hearing. Ones cause severe mental pollution with serious side effects or others that utilize insects that would parasitically feed on the opponent’s body gradually from the inside. The Abyss team is perfect for Assassination, and torture.

Tobio shuddered. “A team that kills at first sight, if that’s the truth I rather not have them as opponents though.” Kurayami group all broke out laughing. “You won’t as you would be dead if you were our foe.” Esdeath nodded. “Killing your foe is the best solution except in some cases where you want to take their sacred gear.”

Before they could react they heard a disturbing laugh that came from a skinny man. He was dressed in something similar to the ‘Nephilim’ uniform worn by Tobio and the other high school students. . He wore sunglasses, had a crooked mouth, and wore an ugly smile on his face. At his feet was another uncanny stone statue. Its eyes were closed once again. “Can’t let you meet the teacher, so here I am”

Kurayami sighed. “This will be a long night, so traitor will you come quietly or will I have to disembowel you?” Shin growled and the boy saw how his statue was destroyed easily, but he had no choice. He was just a grunt after all. he couldn’t even use a balance breaker. ” While I am weak. I wish to render you blind. I want to make you understand the sensation of being blind.”

Esdeath sighed and the boy and statue were turned to ice. “He is alive and has about a minute before he dies. Do we need his sacred gear?” Baraqiel shook his head. “No.” The ice turned to dust and he was killed. His sacred gear was returned to the heaven system. Tobio, Natsume, Kouki, and Shigune just saw a murder for the first time and it was effortless.

Kurayami patted him on the shoulder. “Welcome to the real world. You will have to do the same in time, cousin. No exceptions.” Tobio looked down and yet Draig spoke to him. “Tobio, that’s just how this world is. Supernatural is no nice place. Remember that.” Tobio didn’t say anything, but he thought of Sae. ‘I need to be stronger for her. Even if I have to kill.’ Raynar looked at him and felt the resolve growing in him.

‘Seems that Boosted Gear was not wasted on him.’ As soon as the man died the forest returned to life. There was no longer any killing intent being released. Shigune then spoke to everyone as though having just remembered.” “Koga! I forgot that he’s fighting in the village that’s over there!” Shigune’s expression was urgent as she pointed towards the village.

Baraqiel drew his sword and spoke up. “Shigune.” Suddenly being called out by name, Shigune froze. “Y-Yessir!” Baraqiel looked at her and gave his orders. “You can bring them along to where Koga Hyousuke is, right?” It was a request from Baraqiel who looked scary. while tightly embracing her Sacred Gear she nodded.

Barakiel then looked at Kurayami and his girls. “I will speak with Satanael. You guys go deal with the Abyss class. With Vali, Lavinia, and Kurayami’s group are with you it will be an easy feat.” Kurayami summoned Tyrant and his huge body illuminated the area. “Take him with you. He wants to stretch his new body.” Shigune gawked at the huge dragon that showed up. It lowered his head and looked her in the eyes.

She felt faint, but Kurayami began to pet his friend. “Don’t worry. He won’t eat you. Yet.” Barakiel turned his gaze upon the masked beast Shigune was carrying. “However, whatever you do, be careful when using that Sacred Gear. What you are holding is the strongest of the Four Fiends, ‘Tāotiè Toutetsu’. It will cause untold carnage if he is unleashed the moment it’s used.”

Upon hearing this statement, Tobio and the other former Ryoukou students were shocked. The small anime Nanadaru Shigune was holding. was that strong. Shigune however was merely finding those words to be strange. “I don’t think Poh is a danger though that dragon looked scarier.” Kurayami whistled and from her hands jumped out Poh and walked up to Kurayami. She was shocked and he picked it up. “Do not be fooled. While cute Poh is a creature of misfortune. Right?”

It started to whine and he held out a purple fire which it began to eat. They watched as the gluten ate Longinus fire like it was a snack. It kept up for a minute and it burped purple smoke. “He was hungry.” Even as Shigune was shocked the creature opened its large mouth that was hidden under the mask. From the sharp fangs lined up inside its mouth, it let out a completely unique sound. “Poh”.

They all looked at her and were weirded out. Kurayami felt it was a waste to name it such a boring name. “You could have named him anything and you choose the sound he makes.” He handed it back to her and Shigune nodded. “From the sound ‘Poh’, his name became Poh” She lovingly embraced Poh that was really ‘Tāotiè Toutetsu’. Just from looking at Poh, it didn’t appear all that atrocious on the surface at least.

Barakiel immediately began to walk away. Vali and Tyrant followed him. Vali grained and spoke. “I really should go with you as well. There may be a battle with Satanael.” Barakiel replied without even turning his head. “You can come, but Tyrant should be enough.” Hearing that statement, Vali’s fearless smile vanished, and his expression became one annoyed. “How am I worse than Tyrant?” Tyrant snorted and followed Baraqiel.

Raynare asked Shigune. “Well then, do you know Koga’s whereabouts?” Shigune pointed towards the interior of the village. “I came from that mountain over there. On the way, Koga stayed behind on the mountain to oppose some scary people.” Everyone nodded, and they began walking. After about ten minutes they entered the village. While they were advancing along a country road.

While shining some light spears on the road they were heading towards the mountain. Being a delinquent and being bored Kouki complained. “We walk and walk and there’s nothing but paddy fields.” Kurayami looked back and smirked. “Try doing the same with 300 kilos through Siberia in just shorts and a tank top.” Esdeath, Raynare, and Akeno all shuddered

However, Shigune looked at the sleeping black cat on Kurayami’s head and asked him. “Can I pet it?” Kurayami forgot all about Kuroka. He looked up. “Kuroka. Wake up.” She yawned and tried to sleep again. “Just a few more hours.” Shigune was shocked it could talk. “Ignore her. This is Kuroka and she turned into a cat when she is lazy. She is not really a cat.” Kuroka looked at Shigune and nodded.

“I am a nekoshou, not a cat.” She fell back asleep and Esdeath, Raynnre, and Akeno shook their heads. Lavinia smiled and hugged Kuraymi from behind. He was going through a huge growth spurt and Baraqiel said it was possible that by age 16 he would be as tall as him. He was already 5 ft 6 and was definitely going to be over 6 feet.

However, they heard Shigune’s stomach let out a rumble. Kurayami gave her a box of crackers. “Each one has the equivalent food for a person.” She started to eat them and she actually ate ten. They looked at her like a glutton as she and Poh were alike. Poh didn’t have to eat as he was sated from the dense flames from Kurayami.

Natsume looked at Shigunes stomach and frowned. “You haven’t gained weight at all. How enviable.” Natsume let out a sigh while comparing it with her own stomach. Kurayami wrapped his hand around her waist making her blush. “Your waistline is fine and you are quite pretty on your own. Just lay off the carbs and work out more.” Natsume blushed and held her stomach. “So I am not fat?” He looked over like she was weird. “If you are fat then anorexic people must be chubby. You’re just fine.”

Esdeath looked over at Shigune and had heard they were captured. ” We heard you were temporarily captured by the ‘Utsusemi Agency’? And you were perfectly fine?” Shigune shook her head. “Uh-uh. Not the ‘Utsusemi Agency’. The ones who captured us were the Abyss team. They betrayed the Utsusemi Agency and fled with us during their attempt to capture us.”

Shigune continued her explanation. “They took us to a research institution somewhere. They desired a means to extract a Sacred Gear, to extract Poh. They subjected me and Koga to something. Some kind of experiment it seemed, several times. Eventually, I think he was a boss over there or something. He had brown hair and a suit. He reached an agreement with Koga ” Kurayami found it weird. “So he doesn’t know how to remove a sacred gear. Azazel kept it to himself did he.”

Kurayami looked over and asked.”So what did he do?” She shuddered and hugged Poh tighter. “Koga become a monster.” Koiki was interested in what kind. “So Koga became a monster then?” As she was about to answer a strange aura assaulted the forest. A thunderous roar resounded from the direction of the mountain. Kurayami grinned. “Seems he has an artificial balance breaker. Let’s go.”