Coda cawed loudly in the air, sheltering her reddish tints under the late, darkening sky. Normally, Daiko would be back at the Horizon Apartments by now to ready up for some sleep, but a certain event led up by a clue resulted in him seeking out this particular building. Most people left it alone as it was presumed homeless for the longest time. At one point, Daiko thought the same, but then demons arrived…

He never wished to see Orchidia go through such horrors again. Despite his greatest efforts to thin out the attackers, people lost lives and left behind shattered feelings in several families - the city was scarred, to say the least. It would likely heal up in good time, but Daiko was a little too emotional to think about that first. Who would? After these horrifying images in his head, he couldn’t help but feel strangely drawn towards his very next moves. He had a hunch that the demons weren’t relying on themselves throughout their failed conquest; often, a conquest or mission would deem successful if aided by multiple figures.

He got the idea that humans might have been involved in the attack - pityingly at their own town - back when he overheard a conversation at the market streets. Some dude with a beanie talked with one of the local merchants about ‘the goods in all aspects of life, even this’ and the merchant laughed at him with the response… well, it was faint in his memory, but it was something about ‘there’s more to it’ and ‘I’ll show you where I keep it’. It was mostly the first person’s quotes that interested Daiko, because after having your town mauled by demons and slipping out with big injuries, you wouldn’t normally find anything good in that.

Come on, anything good in a demonic raid? Anything good in watching your loved ones bleed out? Was it even relevant for a merchant to talk about it in public?

He should have been closer to the merchant and his fella with the beanie, but when they followed each other across the street, Daiko decided to follow after them. With that, he found the manor and debunked its status as uninhabited and even restricted due to the two men entering the house and staying there until the sun began to set. That was now, and Daiko had enough of waiting - he needed to quench his hunch with some solid investigation.

With Coda in the air, he wanted to ensure himself that there weren’t any people nearby the garden, because luckily, he found a hole that he could crawl through. The darkness would be annoying, though, but a tolerant companion as he should avoid getting spotted… and that prompted him to use his Thermal Vision.

Coda’s squawk, however, braked him in his track as he had just passed the hole - she must have spotted someone nearby. He was suddenly in the air and stuck onto a branch to a nearby tree, hoping that he got out of sight in time. With his Thermal Vision, he proceeded to see more properly… and noticed one person in the same area as him, only a dozen meters away. Their body’s heat signatures were heavily focused around their torso, almost inhumanly.

Most would assume Coda for a random crow by now. Her happy squawks indicated something irregular to Daiko - was it a friend?

“… They’ve closed most windows here. Bad move,” he assured the stranger whom he had yet to identify due to the darkness. Soon, his eyes would adapt… hopefully…

“… Oh, oh yeah, I bet,” he replied with a surprised tone. He obviously held big expectations of Alisa’s prowess ever since they met back in Baska for the first time, but intruding any house with the windows opened felt inevitably foolish for a rhino-mind like his. To each their own, he thought. If not for Daiko’s direct command earlier, Coda would have dived down to greet Alisa as joyfully as she always intended to. However, ‘tacklehugging’ in what could possibly be enemy territory sounded… unneeded.

Don’t worry, Coda, you’ll have your fun soon.

It had been what felt like years. Of course, Daiko was delightful to meet a good, old friend once more and realize that things hadn’t grown away or rebooted their entire familiarities. With a cheerful face, he leapt down from the tree and softly landed on the grassy surface of the garden only a meter away from Alisa. Now, he was able to fully fathom her appearance, and truth be told, he wasn’t good at this sort of thing by telling people that ‘they had grown’ or ‘you’ve surely changed over the years’ and stuff. That often made him look a little harder than one would expect from him, but he didn’t want to be mean to her.

“Ditto. You look… more refined of a warrior,” he let out. Uh, Daiko, what did that mean, exactly? He wanted to converse with his own self about those terms, but Alisa reminded him that he came here for a reason other than meeting up with a voluptuous pal. They were both on the hunt for those either responsible or plotting to aid the demons from the previous incursion. His town was to be protected from such madmen.

The manor was old in itself and in its entirety - it was built around the very foundation of the town itself, and ever since the previous owner died, the building had been left out without any residents. It was partly due to it never being put up for sale for some odd reason. Such an old building could easily crumble under the force of a single spell… but that was reckless. Daiko shouldn’t destroy the old structure.

“I mean, we could always find an open window… or perhaps knock on the door and lock someone out-“ he suggested in a worried tone. He wasn’t sure if those plans were fool-proof, but his feet braked and turned his attention towards a wooden cellar shaft. “… Or we could surprise them from beneath,” he then suggested with more confidence as he advanced towards the shaft, letting Coda watch outside and keep her squawks low until anything suspicious arrived.

“Who leaves a tomb open like this… wait, this isn’t a treasure room- wait, what even is this? An entrance?”

Surprise from beneath was likely the ideal goal for them both now. And thanks to this strange structure, they could enter the basement with little to no issue. It was obviously a huge jab in the groin for the assumed cultists in the house to leave the basement that vulnerable, but Daiko had trouble expecting precisely enough from them. Maybe they planted traps down there and left the… tomb hole way open for them to walk straight into their hands.

… Well, Alisa couldn’t see any traps inside. Were the residents really that confident? They would regret that soon enough. “Sucks for them.”

Daiko quickly jumped in after Alisa signaled their descent. His feet planted a little heavier, but upon regaining his foothold, he looked around to realize the gloominess and lack of light. This required some lighting, in which Daiko opened his palm and manifested a minor fire. Its glamour and blaze was as recognizable as ever, and its heat lit up the basement revealing not only the dusty settlement, but also the layers of cloth covering what looked like new furniture.

There was a cloth that showed the outline of a little chest, too. Not knowing, the other cloths revealed tables with various instruments and tools for cutting and extracting organs and body parts, recognizable for people who professed in the medicinal labor.

Above them were footsteps from more than one person. The footsteps were casual and slow-paced, so they must’ve entered unnoticed.

”Heh,” Daiko chuckled. His magic used to be more convenient in the past, but that was a story for another day. He was assured that Alisa would find out eventually, especially if they had to engage into combat soon. For now, however, they held the element of surprise, and this place… it fed their curiosities. What was with carpeting the tables and furniture like this? Was it because that the house was about to be bought? Daiko had heard nothing of this, and given the infamy that this manor had, he would have likely overheard it at some point. Then again, he wasn’t exactly a governing body of Orchidia, so his own judgements were ultimately rash.

The scalpel was clean? That sure gave a creeping aura out and caused Daiko’s back to twitch a little. “*gulp*…” was all that escaped his mouth as a comment to that. In the end, it just impacted his goal to eliminate any reattempts at summoning the demons from before. Luckily, his attention switched to the same footsteps that Alisa might have acted upon as she was holding her large sword- wait a second, he recognized that sword. That was funny.

The footsteps approached the door. A change of pace, this intrusion had taken. And it sounded like two people’s steps overlapping and consecutively following each other. Perhaps a little more spying would reveal more to the story - especially since they found themselves in the area of investigation, hidden among the home-feeling strangers. “We could find out from the main men themselves,” he explained to Alisa, “Let’s hide. They’re coming.”

His voice was lowered, because he didn’t want to deafen out the sound of the footsteps approaching the door atop a staircase that would lead down to the basement where a single turn would take the strangers to the room where the two wizards were located. The Fire Mage discussed to himself whether if he should try and hear out their own little chit-chat down here by finding a proper hiding place - he was aiming for a covered wardrobe - or if he should try his luck and take them both by surprise, thus gaining two subjects of interrogation.

The fire lighting up the room died out quickly as Daiko heard Alisa’s words. Apparently, under the stairs would be a better hiding spot than a wardrobe - imagine the situation where the residents would open the robe and find a Fire Mage in it. That sure could screw everything over, even cause them to scream. That would, in return, alert the entire building.

Yeah, good idea. Daiko quickly hid behind Alisa under the same staircase. It was likely safer this way. His hair blended perfectly in with the jet-black surroundings that lacked light without his fire magic. But he didn’t need that long enough, because the guys whose voices he recognized entered the room from a door upstairs. They were… in high spirits. This was sickening, Daiko already wanted to pummel them both and throw them out the windows.

The cultists were located in the middle of the previous room where Daiko and Alisa were before, in the presence of the cloaked furniture. A little more chit-chat, but they didn’t seem to bother talking about the equipment around. Alisa was bent on taking them down soon as she expressed so to Daiko, in which he responded quietly: “… After that, we probably have to heed upstairs… it would be nice to have an invisibility spell available here. Unless if anyone could pretend to be a cultist, they’d just spot us instantly.”

There were badges on the two cultists, much to Daiko’s unknowing. As he watched the staircase, which was the likable gateway for ambush and surprises, the takedown relied on Alisa and her show of battle arts.

… Oh yeah. Daiko just saw the robes that the two cultists were wearing; those could fit into anyone with such vast… sizes? Width? They were large cloaks, and they would surely make anyone fit in with the crowd. He nodded back to Alisa’s suggestion and stripped a robe off the other guy as they both donned them without a second thought. It was weird to just leave the guys in their underwear down here in the basement, however; what if they woke up and caused a ruckus? Daiko swopped them both into the wardrobe from before and locked it shut.

Well… Daiko couldn’t help but eye her chest. It did stick out - a lot, even, in his eyes. “… L-Let’s just hope they know where your eyes are,” he spoke to her before walking towards the staircase. With creaking sounds from the old wood of the steps, the Fire Mage advanced upwards until he reached the door. With one hand, he would swipe it open and enter a hallway that led to the living room… a room filled with other cultists wearing the exact same type of robes.

…

True to familiarity, she was as sly as he remembered her. Catching Daiko in his breath and causing a flustered slash shamed burst of reddish colors to spread on his face, clearly not having been in the same page as Alisa concerning her ‘monstrous’ chest size. His eyes weren’t… well… they weren’t ALWAYS on her chest, but give the lad a break here! If his first encounter with this voluptuous statue involved picking a grass knot from her butt, then he would obviously have trouble with his face just remembering such events and thus cause a war with his own self-consciousness over the case of whether he was perving or simply overwhelmed thanks to his primitive naivety.

His eye twitched a little, but he had to move on, so his reply consisted of: “Hrmph…” The staircase made loud, cracking noises, so he had a hunch that those upstairs sub-consciously awaited the two previous cultists’ re-arrival now. Either that, or they were minding their own businesses.

“What, you already know my- oh, wait, yeah,” he quickly tried to reply to her under a rather quiet breath, “I may look a little skinny and smaller, but I’m 20… wait, what am I talking about, there’s nothing wrong with my body…!” Truth be told, his physique had changed clearly. Before his magic evolved into a Takeover Magic, Daiko felt like having a regular build among most men. He wasn’t that oblivious to beauty ideals and the likes, but when his Fire Magic got some phoenix stuff boiling up, his physique slowly thinned out his arms, legs and height. It made him collect less resistance from the wind during every move… or something like that. Also, it was way worse before his special training back with Lamia Scale. That season had brought results, but just not under the same circumstances that he expected.

Also, yay; the living room was large enough to allow lots of mobility. Hearing Alisa’s words about finding a place for her sword, Daiko looked around to try and spot another shelf or wardrobe. People rarely looked into those, especially with guests inside.

“There’s a wardrobe on the other hallway behind those two other guys,” he spoke back to her, “But we’ll have to pass through… SO, uh, weren’t those tools neat and dicey?” Daiko’s voice sharply turned into an enthusiastic and almost idiotic tone as a cultist turned around the corner towards them. Daiko’s face turned towards Alisa’s with a smile, indicating that they were watched by nudging his eyes to the right.

Great, more exercise. In the end, would it even bother that much for a guy like him? The more, the better… and that philosophy could be intoxicating, almost extremist-like. Daiko would have to make sure that he didn’t fall into an extremity trap along the way. The last thing he wanted was for his body to develop abnormal muscles; that image just didn’t settle well with him… not at all. “Ah… well, you know, Lamia Scale training,” he answered quickly and precisely. Given his assumption about Alisa’s in-depth knowledge of his guild, she should likely remember that they were all hunting greater power there, and it was a matter of improving your entire body’s capabilities to reach a certain goal.

For Daiko’s, it was mobility and lightness. He was light on his feet, so he made little sound when he moved and leapt between trees and buildings, and he didn’t have to push himself so much to lift his body up in the air. It also eased the function of flying, obviously, and it also gave his presence out way lesser than if he was skyscraper-high.

… Ah crap.

Two guys approached them and cracked a joke out, in which Daiko tried his best to behave like them and pretend as if he was a cultist from the very beginning. However, their cover was almost blown when it sounded as if the stranger didn’t know about the large, cross-formed sword on Alisa’s back, in which she stored them inside a shelf beneath the closet where she put her sword. Now, don’t get spotted, cross sword…

Daiko turned his head to the left and eyed the living room once more. Some people had went upstairs, so there were only three present now. There was a hallway on the other side, so to reach that, they would have to walk straight through the room. Likely, the interesting stuff was to happen upstairs, but since not everyone went up there now, it was assumed by him that only selected people were expected upstairs for the moment. That would make their own presence less normal.

There were only tools and reconstructive parts in the basement; scalpels, hooks, crab-finger-things whose names he didn’t know and more ‘tools’, but he didn’t know where the weapons were. His eyes, however, gazed upon a random picture on the wall of what looked like a… well… ew…


“Never have I seen anything creepier… no way a human can obey them willingly.”

No less, eh? Daiko was beginning to get curious about what Alisa had gone through to come to this point. Perhaps he should ask about that huge sword of hers… he could’ve sworn that he saw it before. Oh well. The painting sure made them agree about the assumed mentality of these people. That thing looked like a crocodile and a leech merged together with a human or vampire’s face and an ox’ horns. Those legs were more or less chameleon-like with sharp claws, and that repulsive tail… Daiko had a thing against reptilians in general, but this one birthed disgust in him.

Quickly, they both moved towards the stairs by passing by the cultists residing in the living room. Some of the cultists nodded in small greetings to Daiko, and he merely nodded back with a confident smile. Yeah, he wasn’t a real cultist, but how big was the chance that they would recognize each other so strongly that any attempt at infiltrating the group was futile?

After some serious nodding and even a handshaking by one friendlier cultist, Daiko and Alisa were found at the foot of the staircase. There weren’t any closets upstairs, so if they stirred trouble, it was all or nothing. However, a cultist came hurrying down the stairs and approached the two of them in a slight panic. “H-Hey, we need two more logs. You, follow me,” he commanded whilst nodding towards Alisa as if she was just another cultist. The disguise worked, but what did he need logs for? Whatever it was, Daiko sure felt prompted to delay it.

Daiko turned his head towards Alisa and nodded her to follow the cultist down to where the logs were. With a quick move by his eyes only, he aimed to signal that he would go upstairs and see what they were going to do with logs. If Alisa could delay or stop the cultist from bringing the logs upstairs, then the rest would notice by time. And if they got any suspicions of intruders, then Daiko would be ready to burn them all down.

"Just go with him. I'll wait upstairs with the rest," he informed them both with a calm tone. The cultist nodded in response and continued downstairs, assuming Alisa would follow.

[/quote]

Wood… it was likely used for burning. He realized that just as Alisa let go of his shoulder as if she indirectly implanted the answer to her own rhetorical question in him. Watching the cultist lead her downstairs, Daiko took a second to breathe in before walking upstairs. This wasn’t good. This was actually really bad, not going to lie about that. Obviously, this was a huge issue. Wood equaled burn in his head, and given their whole demon ordeal, they were likely setting up an oven of fire… his steps sped up a little, but he was nervous about dropping his cover. What if they had someone innocent in their hands?

Expecting the worst, he turned to the left and eyed the half-open door where the voices of a dozen people could be heard. It sounded like chanting, almost praying sounds like those from the church nearby. Daiko considered entering, but… then again, if they were chanting, wouldn’t his presence disturb them? Wouldn’t he, as a pretentious cultist, know to stay out? Wouldn’t that blow his cover? Fortunately, another cultist came out from the toilet further down the hallway where he stood, and as the cultist approached the door, Daiko decided to follow him in without saying a word. Just being casual like any other cultist.

The floor was made of granite in here. Even through his thick boots, he felt the difference in friction and density. However, further ahead, he saw what was definitely a kind of sacrificial circle of stones with a log in the middle, put up standing in order to hold… an unconscious, naked lady. Her skin looked a little dry, she must’ve been tied up for a very long time. She looked hurt too, but she was twitching and moving akin to a sleeping person having nightmares. He… Daiko didn’t know what to do at that point. One thought told him to cover his eyes, because her business was exposed right in front of him. Another thought commanded him to free her, not thinking of the sudden reactions of the 12 other cultists in the room. A third thought told him to stay undercover and wait for the right time to save her, but that thought didn’t take the possibility of her becoming too late to save in account. But she was definitely planned to be burnt, most likely to summon the demon.

“… H-H-H-Hmh…” he hummed in trouble, trying to assert a sort of curiosity of a cultist despite how violently it went against his sense of morality, “S-She… *cough* given her looks, our future guest must be… high in power.” He was beginning to sweat a little, but he let a sigh out in relief after another cultist turned his intrigued face towards the pretentious cultist and explained: “Uhm… as delightful as that would be, it takes time to summon a higher one. We changed plans today; we’ll try and summon a lower god and work our way up. I mean, she’s not that pretty, after all,but she'll contribute greatly to our recovery… we’ll start low and hopefully climb our way up from the bottom once more.” Daiko had half a mind to rip his jaw off at the moment, but he managed to protect his cover, somehow. He also got a description of the types of people who would revere demons… what he said about her was unacceptable. Turning his face back to the tied up hostage, his face contorted into one of pure sadness. It wasn’t as if he gave up on her - that wouldn’t happen - but he genuinely felt bad for her and the situation that she ended up in.

“And Rakshasa hasn’t returned with that damn discos yet,” the cultist from before continued in annoyance, “But I don’t expect her to come back anytime soon. She always thinks she’s so thorough with her business, what a fake maneater…” That was… mildly random. However, Daiko took the smart route and wanted to know more about this discos, in which he asked: “Where was she again?” “Dahlia. Don’t wait for her, she and the others will probably go on an orgy for another week or two. That bitch…”

“Well, you know what they say… you’ve got to keep yourself sated and hydrated.”

“… Urgh, I would’ve loved to grant her an intimate acorn if she wasn’t so uptight…”

“… W-What, again? She eats acorns?”

“Y-You, wait, no, you heard nothing! YOU HEARD NOTHING. Now c’mon, let’s get in line - when that new guy brings the rest of the wood, fireworks will start.”

With that said, the troubled cultist joined the chanting people with their closed eyes and horrifying thoughts. Daiko had no idea what he was talking about earlier, but given the Fire Mage’s sudden ‘expertise’ at investigating, he found out that there was a group in Dahlia with the same motives concerning some kind of discos… or whatever that was. He also seemed to have something against her… but all he talked about was food? Then again, it’s not that healthy to eat acorns; walnuts and peanuts were better.

Okay, so they need wood… wow, I got a lot poured down at me. I should wait for the guy from earlier to show up, then send all these bullies straight to hell.


“Alright, it’s a little large, but we’ll manage,” the fresher cultist said whilst holding one end of a short log, “She won’t wake up anytime soon. We can get this up and start the ritual no time…” He awaited Alisa’s help to lift up the log from the other end with the enthusiasm of some sort of freshman. He was definitely young in his voice… young and naïve for a demon worshipper.

Oh, Alisa had returned. She must’ve stood in the way for the cultist to prevent the poor victim from getting burned alive. That meant… that they would find her hostile in a moment’s notice. Therefore, their covers wouldn’t matter. Looking at each side of Alisa to glance the other cultists, some of them were confused and hesitant in making any move for the moment, while others gritted their teeth in utter disbelief. “… What’s the meaning of this, Satan?” one of the cultists asked in frustration, “We have everything ready, and you know that we have to do this… are you turning against us?” Once those words were spoken, more cultists took a battle stance as in an order to stop the rogue cultist had been laid out.

“Guys, we don’t need to burn the wood; we already have other flammables much more suited for this…”

“… Huh? What are you-“

Daiko was holding a hand up in the air. Then, he suddenly aimed his hand at many cultists in high speed, almost appearing to be some kind of professional gunner; a circlet of fire with a feather blade in the middle was launched at each cultist rapidly, burning their faces before any of them could move too far. It caused a light show to cover the air above them in the small room as their cries echoed. One of the unhurt ones lashed out to punch the Fire Mage, but as he with some effort grabbed the upcoming punch, Daiko’s right arm was visible as… covered in sharp edges that appeared to be like a statue of a glowing plumage.

“You’ve already summoned your demon right here!” he stated to the shocked cultist who cried for help. Another member approached the lady tied up, and Daiko eyed him from the corner of his eye. He threw the other cultist away and launched himself towards the bon, kneeing the cultist to near concussion - they were quite durable - and starting to untie the unconscious, naked woman. All the cultists aimed at him with magic circles showing demonic insignia. Even with burned faces, they wouldn’t be fucked by a couple of intruders like this. “Kill him! Kill them both!!!”

With the naked woman in his arms, Daiko felt paranoid for a moment. He was in the middle of a battlefield inside a room in a mansion, and he could be taken for an easy target. If he didn’t get out of here anytime soon, then he would be shot down along with the poor victim that he tried to save. And that was when Alisa removed her hood and claimed her presence in the room as well, so discreetly that not even Daiko noticed that she came back already.

In the midst of the heat, Alisa turned the attention of the several cultists towards herself. It was a laid-out plan to get him and the victim out of here, while the sculptress would deal with the no-brainers. Picking the victim up on his arms, Daiko charged forth towards the door and only had to knock down one guy thanks to Alisa’s distraction. From the frame of the door, he leapt up and moved in the air at a perfectly horizontal direction, his feet aiming at the window in front of him. The feet emitted bursts of fire that broke down the window before he had to do any recoiling damage on his own, and he and the victim came outside unharmed.

He grew out sharp feathers from his arm that functioned as blades to cut off the ropes containing the woman in his arms. She would need some clothes too…

About the commotion that would still go on inside the mansion, however; as far as Daiko remembered, Alisa was a goddamn, sickly powerful wizard. He still remembered their spar the same day they first met, and her Crystal Magic proved superior to his own Fire Magic. Therefore, over time, he assumed that she only got stronger, and that she could handle the cultists on her own… hell, he would even bet on her against one of their demons. It was Alisa!