After completing my routine exercise, I sat on the roof of the Old Male Dormitory, watching the sunrise.
That bitch ass Guiding Light really fucked me, man.
Mephisto, the Vatican, Shura, they were all just waiting on me to mess up just once, and then it was execution time. One slip-up, one lost temper, one blue flame in front of the wrong person, and it was all over.
I looked down at Kuro, who was napping on my lap. "Yo my boy, you gonna help me deal with 'em?"
"Yeah sure." Kuro purred, stretching his two tails.
"Ight, cool. Back to the grind then. No point in making a mountain out of a mole hill."
I'm here, and I will overcome whatever challenge comes my way, I affirmed. And with the full powers of Banshōman unlocking within me every day, I'll be unfuck-with-able soon.
I stood up and drew the wooden practice sword. It was getting easier to channel heat into it without turning it to ash, but the moment I tried to increase the output past a simmer, the wood would start to smoke.
"Temper," I whispered. "Reinforce the carbon structure with Sovereign Density."
I swung and a wave of heat distortion rippled through the air, cutting a cloud in half above me. The wood groaned but held.
"Better," I noted. "But against a Demon King? This stick is merely firewood."
Some Time Later…
Yukio had announced the Summer Training Camp with his usual strict professionalism, casually mentioning that Shura—who became a teacher at the cram school—would be tagging along as a supervisor.
The reality, however, was far less professional. We were deep in the woods behind the academy. It was humid, full of bugs, and absolutely miserable.
"I'm hungry," Shima whined for the tenth time, dragging his feet. "When do we eat?"
"Stop whining," Bon snapped, though his stomach growled loud enough to scare a bear.
I sighed. Hungry teenagers were so useless.
"Move," I said, dropping my pack near the campfire pit.
I took over the cooking station. It was meager—some instant curry, rice, and random vegetables. The ingredients were mid, but I learned a long time ago that a good chef could make a shoe taste good if they had enough butter.
I went to work. I chopped vegetables with surgical precision. I willed the water in the pot to heat up instantly, saving time on boiling the water. I adjusted the spices, balancing the cheap curry powder with wild herbs I'd grabbed on the hike up.
Twenty minutes later, I served bowls of curry that smelled like heaven.
The class stared at the food. Then they took a bite.
"Oh my god," Izumo whispered, her usual scowl vanishing. "It's amazing."
"Rin!" Shima cried, tears in his eyes. "I love you! Marry me!"
"Ah, shut up," I shoved him away.
"Where did you learn to cook like this?" Bon asked, scraping his bowl clean.
"I was a chef before I came here," I said, cleaning my knife. "Line cook since twelve. Sous chef at fifteen."
"That's amazing Rin!" Shiemi said, stars in her eyes.
"Yea, I'm pretty amazing," I said gassing myself up.
"Seconds, please!" Shima said, bowl at the ready.
"It's pretty good, but don't let it go to your head," Izumo said.
"Yea, yea," I responded.
"Don't get too comfortable," Shura's voice cut through the praise. She placed her bowl down. "Dinner's over. The test starts now."
We were led away from the campsite to a dense clearing marked with a magical barrier tape.
Yukio began to explain the point of the camp and its rules; we had to scatter into the forest to find one of three hidden lanterns. We had to light the lanterns and successfully return it to the base camp. And only those of us who return with a lit lantern would be granted permission to participate in real combat missions. The duration of the camp was only three days. And the forest was a nest for lower level demons like Chuchi—moth-like demons that were very active at night.
As we were dismissed to get our gear in order, I was snagged by the back of my collar by Shura. She leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.
"Listen close, Chef," she murmured. "For this exam, you have a handicap."
"Which is?" I whispered back.
"No flames," she hissed, her eyes sharp. "You use that sword, you light a fire, you emit so much as a spark in front of these kids? You fail. And if you fail... I will report you. Understand?"
She pulled back, smirking as if she had just told a joke.
"Loud and clear," I deadpanned.
"Good. Now get moving."
Ugh, this is gonna get very annoying, I can already tell.
We stepped across the barrier line, bolting into the forest and everything changed immediately. The air grew heavy. And then, the buzzing started. Chuchi swarmed from the trees. Some were the size of small dogs, shedding scales that caused paralysis. They swarmed everyone to the point where we had to regroup to fend them off.
"Formati—!" Bon started to yell.
"Too slow," I said, stepping to the front.
I punched the empty air. My fist moved so fast it created a vacuum. A shockwave of condensed air pressure blasted forward, tearing through the swarm of moths like a shotgun blast.
AIR CANNON.
Bug parts rained down, causing the path to be cleared.
"Let's move," I said, walking through the carnage while the rest of the class stood there, jaws on the floor.
We found a lantern deep in a swamp. It wasn't just a lamp; it was a giant, living demon-lantern that groaned when we touched it.
"It's huge!" Konekomaru squeaked. "We have to carry that?"
"Lift on three," Bon ordered.
I grabbed one side. I could have lifted the entire thing with one hand and sprinted back to camp, but I didn't feel like it. We hauled it through the mud until we reached an old wooden suspension bridge spanning over bug-infested waters.
"We have to cross one by one," Bon strategized, wiping mud from his forehead. "Rin, you and Shiemi take the lantern. We'll secure the ropes."
We got halfway across when the water beneath us exploded. A massive Queen Moth rose from the depths. It screeched, mandibles clicking like wet bones.
"Rin!" Shiemi screamed, clutching the lantern.
"Stay behind me," I said.
The moth lunged, its mouth opening wide enough to swallow us whole.
I used Sovereign Impact to punch the moth directly in its ugly face. The pressure shattered its exoskeleton. The force traveled through its body, liquefying its insides instantly. It didn't even fall backward; it just exploded into a cloud of purple goo.
"Gross," I muttered, wiping slime off my jacket leaving the others stunned.
Before they could get a word out, I ushered them to continue on. We dragged the lantern back to the camp perimeter. The others were tired, muddy, and smelling of bug guts. I was fine though so I didn't worry as much. As we approached the campsite, Shiemi suddenly felt some kind of pain in her neck.
"Well done," said a familiar, monotonous voice dropping from atop a tree.
When the dust cleared, Amaimon was standing there with a demon in hand. "Go Behemoth!" he said, releasing it.
As it lunged towards us, Shura defeated it easily with a slash of her blade.
Then she summoned a familiar to place a barrier over the area. "This is the end of the training camp. We have to prepare against Amaimon's attacks."
The others felt a pang of fear hearing that they had to defend themselves against one of the eight kings. Shura brought out holy water and doused everyone—except me, with it to withstand him. Then she called me away from the group.
"The next time Amaimon attacks, you need to leave immediately," she began. "You need to get as far away from here as poss—"
"Shiemi!" someone called out, interrupting Shura's plans for me.
Shiemi was walking absentmindedly out the circle barrier. She had a parasite attached to her, controlled by Amaimon. He held her up, the small parasite dug further into her neck making her body go limp, her eyes glazing over.
"She's my puppet now," Amaimon said, his voice devoid of emotion. "You want her back? Come and get her."
He grabbed Shiemi and vanished into the woods.
Tch, ain't that a bitch. I take my eyes off them for a second and this happens. And where the fuck is Yukio?
I looked at Shura. She nodded grimly as she pulled the real Kurikara out of her pocket dimension and tossed it to me.
"Go," she ordered, trying to keep the rest of the group steady. "I'll follow later."
I caught the sword. Then I chased them. Bouncing off trees to launch myself forward.
I caught up to them in a clearing. Amaimon was waiting. He had Shiemi standing in front of him like a human shield.
"You gonna hit me?" Amaimon taunted, sucking on a lollipop. "If you miss, you hit the girl."
"Release her, broccoli-top."
"Make me."
I engaged him hesitantly. I threw a test jab, but Amaimon blocked it with his forearm like it was nothing. I tried to sweep his leg, but he hopped over it while still holding Shiemi up.
Every time I got close to dealing significant damage, he threw Shiemi in the way. I had to pull my punches, constantly checking my momentum to avoid injuring her.
It was infuriating.
At this point he wasn't even fighting; he was trying to see how far he could go in getting me to lose my cool.
This B-tier ragebaiting bastard.
Then, the bushes rustled. "Rin! We're here to help!"
Bon, Konekomaru, and Shima burst into the clearing, weapons drawn.
Help?! With what?! What can they possibly do in this situation?! And where the fuck is Yukio?!
"Get out of here!" I hissed.
"We're a team!" Bon yelled, ignoring my warning. He reached into his pocket and chucked a small firework-like object at Amaimon.
A pocket rocket?! This bastard tried hitting him with a firework?! Huuuuuuh?!
The explosive popped harmlessly against Amaimon's earth shield.
Then, after that failed he began to chant, his voice desperate. "The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him..."
"Where the hell is Yukio?!" I shouted, dodging a root spike Amaimon sent my way. "We need some actual serious people out here!"
"We don't know," Konekomaru squeaked, looking terrified. "Ms. Kirigakure said she sent him off somewhere."
Great. The genius is M.I.A, and I'm stuck with the glee club.
Bon finished his verse. A weak barrier of light formed around Shima as the pink-haired boy hesitantly charged forward with his staff.
"Take this!" Shima swung his staff at Amaimon.
Amaimon didn't even look. He just raised a single finger.
Clang.
The staff hit Amaimon's finger and stopped dead. Shima's eyes bulged.
"Uh oh," Shima whispered.
Amaimon flicked his finger. The force sent Shima flying backward like a ragdoll, crashing into Bon and breaking the chant.
"Fatal Verse: Naberius!" Bon tried to switch tactics, reciting a demon-killing verse.
Amaimon simply stomped his foot. A pillar of earth shot up from the ground, catching Bon in the gut and launching him into the air. He hit a tree branch with a sickening crunch and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.
Konekomaru froze, his strategy falling apart before it even started. "Bon! Shima!"
They were dropping like flies. They were weak. And they were in the way.
"We're distracting him!" Bon yelled at me, struggling to stand up, blood running down his face. "Do something!"
D-Distracting him? I thought as I stopped moving.
I looked at my so-called backup bleeding on the ground. I looked at Amaimon, who looked bored out of his mind, still holding Shiemi by the neck.
Something inside me snapped. Not my limiter, but my patience.
I'm not standing for this shit anymore.
"You bastards..." I whispered, my voice trembling with pure disdain. "Are so... pathetic."
"What?" Bon choked out.
"You talk big. You say you want to kill Satan. But this is what you show against the weakest Demon King?"
"And you," I turned my gaze to Amaimon. My voice turned cold as ice. "You've brought this upon yourself. Playtime's over."
I didn't care about being cautious anymore. I didn't care about the camp. And I didn't care about the Order. If I didn't end this now, these idiots were going to die, and cleaning up their corpses would be a hassle.
Fuck the Order! This is personal!
I drew the Kurikara and a wave of Blue Annihilation exploded outward. The heat was so intense the ground around me turned to glass instantly. The air shimmered, distorting the image of the forest.
Amaimon's eyes widened, the lollipop falling from his mouth. "Finally!"
"Shut your mouth." I said, vanishing from his sight.
FLASH STEP!
I re-appeared behind Amaimon and I kicked him with a Comet Roundhouse.
CRACK.
It sounded like a thunderclap. Amaimon flew forward, his grip loosening on Shiemi. I caught her with one hand before she hit the ground and tossed her gently toward the tree line, away from the blast zone.
Then I turned back to the King of Earth, who was pulling himself out of a crater.
"You wanted flames?! Here!" I slashed downwards at him.
The output of blue light was immense. It didn't cut him; it erased the forest behind him for three miles.
Amaimon screamed as his skin blackened. He tried to summon a shield of earth, but the heat melted the rock into lava before it could fully form.
I walked toward him, a demon in human skin. I raised my fist, wreathed in blue hellfire.
"Be gone."
"STOP!"
A giant cuckoo clock materialized in the sky. Mephisto Pheles dropped down, blocking my punch with a barrier that shattered on impact, sending shockwaves rippling through the clearing.
"That is quite enough!" Mephisto yelled, actually sweating as he shook his stinging hand. "The test is over! You pass! Please stop melting my forest!"
I stood there, breathing heavy, the blue flames slowly dying down. I looked at the terrified faces of my classmates. Bon was staring at me like I was the devil himself, while Konekomaru and Shima were shaking.
"Tch, Buzzkill."