Kuoh Academy

[Bloodedge]

Little did the young member of Onoko's peerage know, he faced an individual versed in the magical arts this day. Onoko himself had obtained knowledge regarding most of Eira's peerage, but for some strange reason or another, he went without informing his own subordinates. As such, the red-haired boy saw victory on the horizon as he parried and cracked Miyuki's blade. It may have been made of ice, but this lad had faced Yokai in the past, and thought it possible to only be restricted to the creation of ice which he could easily break through with his ample brute strength alone. Sadly, he was not privy to the unheard of concept of Miyuki's spell, which produced a pillar of ice from the ground beneath him. The boy was frozen through, disappearing in a strange green light just before the pillar shattered where he stood. "Hm? What kind of spell is that?" Takumi asked, believing this vanishing trick was either the boy's, or something to do with what Miyuki used against him.

[Apollymi]

As the red haired boy disappeared from within the ice, Takumi thought to question the method. "Ufufufufu~" a chuckle escaped Eira as she looked towards the young girl who let the solid white sword she'd created disappear from her hands. "The ice itself is a spell, and power which belongs to Miyuki, but the lad she fought disappeared for a different reason. Gomen I left it out of the explanation earlier... I've had a lot on my mind," she mentioned. It would be Miyuki herself who cleared up the rest of this conversation. "Eira-nee, forgot to mention, that Rating Games are mostly friendly ordeals. Especially since the system was created specifically to make new devils. The Judges who watch over the matches determine when people are beaten, and monitor for when people could be killed or incapacitated so they teleport them out using magic when they've lost a match up. That guy is probably back sitting among his peerage getting dirty looks from the other members," she said calmly. Eira took this as an opportunity to tease the young girl. "Which means, Miyuki here, just used a spell which could have killed the boy she was fighting. Nice~" she held up her right hand for a high five which the smaller girl performed the action for, with a bluish blush staining her face. "E-e-ira-nee, you don't have to tease..." the young girl managed which made the other woman smile. Regardless of the stress of this situation, she did at least enjoy the company of the people of her peerage.

After the young redhead was teleported out, a frowning raven haired woman began making her way forward. She was dressed strangely in a fairly revealing way bosom mostly exposed as her bandaged wrapped feet in their clogs made their way towards the trio. "Yare yare, I knew that brat was gonna get himself disqualified early," she said seeming to come to a stop, the pipe she held in her left hand was strange, but stranger still was the fact that she didn't have a right arm at all. Attached to the stub of it, was instead a sword, but she didn't draw it surprisingly enough. "Alright then, I'm not taking on a bishop, nor your Master..." she paused thinking about it, and knowing she had no hope against the Ruin Princess whose reputation very much proceeded her. "So what about you?" she looked to Takumi before immediately running forward with a strange amount of speed as if to rush him, aiming to slam her left fist onto the center of his being.

[Bloodedge]

"So nobody dies in this?" Takumi wondered aloud. "I figured, you know... with us being Devils and all..." It was truly Takumi's assumption that Devils in combat with one another would be battling to the death, which human world media would depict as a war for supremacy in the underworld by obliterating any potential competition. Perhaps there was much to learn yet, as it was now seeming more like a sport with inflicted pain as a method of victory. Prior to the full verbalization of his clause, Takumi was addressed directly by a woman aiming to find a combatant among Eira's peerage. By virtue of not wanting to battle the magically-inclined, while also wanting nothing to do with Eira herself, this one-armed woman singled him out by charging him directly with a fist targeting his abdomen. Takumi's eyes widened as she ran in his direction, failing even to realize what was going on initially. Even so, he could clearly see her movements during this approach. Before he could come to a realization of what would soon become of him, the raven-haired woman's fist found its home in his abdominal region, winding the lad as he was sent tumbling across the ground for half a dozen meters. A few moments passed before he was able to pull himself up onto one knee, keeping himself upright with the support of his right arm while looking forward. "Hngh... I guess that means me. I have to fight... a woman?"

[Apollymi]

"Tehehehe~" surprisingly enough this time the laugh came from Miyuki instead of Eira. Of course, this was soon followed by Eira speaking about their nature as devils. "We're Devils, Takumi, not savages..." she said, though if one were being honest Eira was more likely to kill than most. Regardless of this there wouldn't be much more time for an explanation as soon enough the raven haired woman choose Takumi as her target. "Ano, you could have let me finish explaining first. It's been a busy couple of days," she muttered even so the calm demeanor didn't seem to leave the crimson haired woman's face, though her brow rose when Takumi was struck and then further struggled to get himself up. "It definitely seems to mean you, Gambatte Takumi~" mentioned his leader. She had no idea what this man would do, but he seemed resolved to help her out so she was more than apt to see what he had been working on.

Meanwhile, the other woman seemed to look at her fist after striking Takumi and opened and closed it as if confused. "If fighting a woman is a problem for you, you are setting yourself up for failure later. Or now, whatever..." she said seeming not to care about this boy's plight and rushing him once more aiming to kick him square in the middle of his chest and send his body up towards her outstretched fist which would aim to send him crashing back down to the ground. She figured this one for a pawn and as such she had no problem potentially beating him within an inch of his life to help her own master make a point. She wasn't as weak as the one beaten by the Bishop, she could do at least enough to get rid of this obviously new devil.

[Bloodedge]

Takumi continued pushing himself upward toward a standing position while his apparent opponent spoke. Her interpretation of what he meant may have been true, but there was a simple matter she wasn't likely to know. "Iie. It's not so much a problem for me," he said just before a kick collided with his torso in an effort that acted only as a prelude to Takumi being knocked into the ground once again. Even with this occurring, he still struggled to rise whilst blood trickled from the space betwixt his lips. Still, his right hand was used as his support in this endeavor. "Sumimasen. I promised I'd help us win, but... don't hold anything against me." His words were spoken as if he were apologizing for a potential loss he would soon be experiencing. In actuality, however, his words were for his opponent. A discovery had been made about the nature of his powers on the previous night, and he knew what he had to do. As he was in the process of rising for the second time in this encounter, Takumi reached out with his left hand, fully intending to grab hold of his opponent's right breast, after what looked to be a simple plea - a grasp at any sort of contact by what seemed like a broken combatant.

[Apollymi]

Takumi's opponent couldn't know what he meant exactly, but she was soon to find out. In the interim, she'd managed to hit him with a combination of moves. To be honest, if this was all there was to Eira's first pawn, she thought it rather likely that the young woman would be succumbing to her master Onoko's wish for the pair of them to marry. To be honest, she didn't see why such a Rating Game was even necessary, her boss wasn't an ugly guy by her own standards. And he was powerful which was more to the point the sort of thing that female Devils looked for. Regardless the apology issued by the young man was assumed to be for his Master so the raven haired woman went again for another hit, only she was stopped in her tracks. "What the hell!?" she asked seemingly stunned, as the young man beneath her, didn't try to hit or fight her, but instead managed to latch on to her undefended right bosom. What this was intended to accomplish, the woman had no idea, but she rather quickly recovered in a way most women would and attempted to smack this young man across the face with her left arm. 'Seriously? That's a last ditch effort?' she mentally questioned.

Eira to her credit still managed to look unphased. But upon seeing this young man's actions she could only assume a single thing. "Someone's taking Izuna's advice very seriously," she managed. While Miyuki, blushed feverishly blue shaking her head. "He's a bit terrible. Taku-senpai really is gonna end up a pervert. But... he's so nice..." she murmured, as her young mind tried to reconcile what she just saw happen with the young man's general attitude.

[Bloodedge]

Now, the battle between Pawns could truly begin. Takumi had successfully invaded the personal space of his opponent, and gained a handful of her bosom. In that exact moment, he could feel the surge of power within him coming to the surface. 'So much. So soft,' he thought as the muscles throughout his left forearm gained tension. Even as a hand encroached upon his face, he grinned. The open slap of this one-armed woman repelled him slightly, though not at all like her earlier punch, and not in time to stop him. This time, there was no need for Takumi to pick himself up, but what he did do rather suddenly... was raise his left fist to reveal it gaining a red gauntlet, which left his fingers uncovered, and brandished a green gem over the back of his hand. "Sumimasen. I needed that, though. Arigatou gozaimasu," he said. Just after he spoke, the green jewel on his gauntlet flashed, and with it came speech directly from the Sacred Gear itself. "Boost!"

"Alright... I'm ready." With that said, Takumi stepped inward to close the distance between himself and the woman who assaulted him. In making this effort to shrink the space between them, he also brought his left arm around to aim a hook punch toward the right side of her face, boasting what was now double his normal physical strength.

[Apollymi]

Whatever this raven haired woman thought initially, soon enough her bosom accosted the young man she'd gone to slap was on his way to getting up without nearly the impact she'd thought to have. She was a bit stunned by this of course, more so by the fact that the young man before her had thought to apologize for his actions after claiming they were necessary. "I have literally never been more confused about how I feel in my life..." said the woman. On the one hand, she would like to punch a hole through this kid for his hands-y behavior, on the other, he'd apologized and acted like he intended to keep fighting normally. Beyond that the gauntlet on his wrist seemed to speak as well, bringing more than a little confusion, regardless she didn't get much time to consider it, as his gauntlet covered fist was soon flying towards the right side of her face. As if moving on instinct she crossed her own body with her left arm pulling from the sheath of her right arm a sword which she used to block the punch. She'd expected a bit of force, but not the amount which moved her backwards several meters. "Eh! Suddenly powerful, whatever, just makes the beating more fun to hand down," she allowed that same sword to fall back into its sheath before spinning into a kick with her left leg aimed towards the center of this young boy's body, only to immediately follow up with another punch from her left time, this time seemingly laced with electrical energy which would explode on contact aiming to add even more power to her blows.

[Bloodedge]

"I couldn't fight you without doing that to someone. It's... part of my power, apparently," Takumi said to give some insight to the black-haired woman. Whatever the case, his fist had connected with something other than its intended target, but it still managed to have some level of visible impact in its recoil value alone. Takumi was due for retaliation at this point. The woman aimed to kick him this time around, forcing Takumi to reach out with his right hand to stop her leg before it reached him. On the other hand though, she came with a follow-up attack using her fist again. This particular punch carried the element of lightning with it, which was something Takumi was not naturally equipped to handle... until an image of Izuna during their training crossed his mind.

"You're not gonna be worth much of anything to Eira if all you can do is punch stuff. If that's the case, it'd be better - and cheaper - for her to use Maiko. You're a Pawn, so you can be anything. Use that, and use that power I gave you." As Izuna's words repeated in Takumi's mind, his left fist rose again to punch out against the woman's electrified fist. In the middle of this action, Takumi's Sacred Gear took on the flaming property it gained on the previous day of training, covering his full hand and allowing his fist to bear the impact of electricity. Just the same, an explosion of Takumi's creation would simultaneously be produced along with another outcry from the Sacred Gear. "Flame Boost!" At the moment of impact and dual explosions, Takumi was launched back, but saved from any major damages by virtue of nullifying the opposition with his own blast. This was satisfying enough for now, but he felt there was much more he could accomplish with time.

[Apollymi]

"Uh-huh, I wasn't prepared for this level of weird..." the woman said as she aimed to hit Takumi. But it seemed she was more than woefully unprepared for most things, as her electrified punch didn't make contact and instead her fist was met by one of flames which were subsequently boosted over the level of cancelling out her own. She withdrew with singed fingers to show for her efforts as she swatted out flames which came to the bandages on her hand. "Well, weird is fine... it gives me a reason..." the woman seemed to think about what she wanted to do, and then uttered words which made Eira's eyes narrow if only for a moment. "PROMOTION! BISHOP!" it seemed that this woman was willing to act of her own accord. After laying several blows to the boy's body she decided that her best course of action would be to overpower him beyond what he was capable of defending against. A grin came to her face as the promotion cleared and she felt an influx of power the likes of which she hadn't in quite some time. She jumped several meters into the air, growing out black devil wings to carry her even further up. A strike was coming from above and all eyes would shift upwards as she began charging a massive attack. A ball of lightning seemed to be forming from her hand, and soon enough it was bigger than her whole torso. Her wings clipped in, and then her body came crashing down towards Takumi's at lighting speed with an increased angle that she might follow any moves to dodge. The spell within her hand finished and she uttered its name. "RAIKOUHO!" and a bolt born from the mass of swirling electrical energy crashed down with the young woman close behind it as she closed her fist to follow up this bolt with physical force beyond what was necessary from the ground. Her hopes to completely annihilate the young boy beneath her, in a single huge blowup of power.

[Bloodedge]

Following the joint explosion, Takumi swept his hand through the air to clear the smoke in front of him. This gave him a more straightforward view of his opponent. It was at this moment that she began speaking of a "reason" he'd given her in his weird approach to this fight. The statement alone didn't bode well, and it apparently heralded a promotion to Bishop on her part. His understanding told him that this would be followed by another attack of a magical variety. It was strange to note that she had such magical ability, considering the amount of natural strength she boasted physically - as judged by her earlier attacks against him. On a more positive note for Takumi, another segment of Izuna's training came to mind based on the goings-on.

"Know why I said to make me your goal? It's 'cause you're a Pawn. Besides King and Queen, your piece is the only one that can do everything. So... do everything. Keep 'em guessing, and right when you pull a surprise out of your ass, make sure you hit with the full force of it!" Taking this speech to heart, Takumi held his left fist in front of his chest, resolving himself to press onward with greater power. "Promotion... Rook!" he called out, instantly gaining a boost to his physical attributes. In this case, though, he focused the Rook's power fully on resistance. He drew back his fist as the lightning encompassed him, hanging in due only to his choice in promotion. The black-haired woman was soon to be upon him. Knowing this, he punched outward in her direction... but not with the intention of damaging her with this physical effort. Takumi made a plea with his own power, and his power answered the moment his arm was outstretched. In place of a punch, his hand opened to collect all the flames of his Sacred Gear's transformed state. "Flame Dragon Shot!" The small sphere that formed of the flames and Takumi's demonic power suddenly erupted in the form of a beam, large enough to wipe out the remainder of the lightning, while also encompassing Takumi's opponent with great force and burning potential. All in all, his promotion to Rook had no purpose aside from the trickery of making his enemy believe he intended to use strength against her, but he could tell from the last exchange that his more magical abilities would be capable of at least holding their own, so he felt he only needed to be capable of resisting her attack to manage his retaliation.

[Apollymi]

This new challenge was one which Eira found herself watching passively. She felt that such things were good for her peerage and beyond that point, she'd placed her faith in this pair of individuals to help her conquer the current challenge. Given this, she was simply waiting to see what would happen with this young man. Comparatively, the raven haired woman seemed to be very sure of her choice. Even as the boy chose Rook as his promotion she was sure her follow up would be more than enough to down him, magic aside. But his follow up as she would have met his fist, made her eyes widen drastically. A flaming beam escaped this young man and aimed to swallow up the woman. And there was literally nothing she could do about it. Much to her own dismay she was engulfed in such a flame only to be teleported out of the area in a green light without another word to be spoken. 'Can't believe I got tricked by a pervy kid...' she griped mentally, but she'd lost in all fairness.

When the dust from this cleared, Miyuki's eyes widened and then she rather suddenly seemed happy. "Sugoi! That was amazing Taku-senpai." she said in general congratulatory fashion. "Amazing indeed. I knew a made the right choice. Nice job, Takumi~" said Eira in the same gentle voice she'd used earlier, and just like she had for Miyuki, held up her hand for a high five. This was after all as good a time as any to keep their moods light and celebratory. 'Flame dragon shot... that twice critical is definitely not a twice critical...' she couldn't help but be bemused as her mind cycled through the things it could possibly be.

[Bloodedge]

The accumulation and dispersal of "dragon" flames as they were called by the Sacred Gear, accompanied the return of Takumi's gauntlet to its normal state. He felt then as if he were down to his normal power level as well, and was given confirmation by the gauntlet. "Burst!" it said, just as it had the previous time he reached his limit. Strangely, it occurred this time without as many boosts to his power, yet... he also felt no more drained now than he did upon entering the fight. On the previous day, he'd been left unable to continue fighting for quite some time, but he was now able to move directly toward the next challenge. Before going anywhere though, he stopped to look toward Eira and Miyuki, both of whom had something to say about his apparent victory. With a smile on his face, he bowed to both women. "Hai! Arigatou gozaimasu!" he said before rising, only to then raise his right hand and meet Eira's.

[Apollymi]

'Hmm, Burst....huh? Well it seems like I'll be taking whoever is next...' Eira decided mentally while having her friendly gesture accepted. She was a special form of pleased by this, but there wasn't the time to dwell on it. It seemed that her two peerage members had given quite a bit to their first endeavor, and she knew it would likely be easy to handle whoever was up next. Rook would be the most likely to be next encountered, but Onoko might be one for arrogance, and given the numbers of people they'd faced so far. That being said, there had been some strange people encountered already, and she couldn't put a bit of trickery past the man especially considering his goal here. "Hai hai, come along you two, it's time to go inside..." strangely enough they'd simply be passing through the courtyard of their own school building, meaning she was more than fully aware of exactly where she should be going to find Onoko.

Meanwhile as they entered the school building they began to walk down the long corridor which would eventually lead to the opening of the staircase and up to the principal's office. But before that could be reached in the middle of this corridor, there was a tall dark-skinned woman wearing a white vest and shorts with a pair of boots over her legs which seemed to fit surprisingly well considering the woman's form. "Nice boots..." said Eira to the woman seemingly innocuously. Meanwhile the woman herself began hopping on her feet. "I told those guys not to take unnecessary risks, but no one ever listens. Whatever... I guess it's up to me now..." it seemed to be the going strategy was simply to stop these ones long before they reached the principals office and with that in mind this woman began attacking, but it wasn't anyone in front of her. No, strangely her feet met walls and windows. Dust and debris began to show up all over her person. When she behaved this way the boots seemed to be absorbing the dirt only to grow and grow until her body was basically armored by the boots. Once this occurred she seemed to feel better. All the while, Eira held a hand before the group of them, causing multiple barriers to appear around them to subvert the partial collapse of the hallway. "They aren't nice boots, they are my sacred gear Twice Critical: Dirty Boots... And now I have the strength to finish this here and now..." She said stepping forward she began to directly kick into the barriers which were created by Eira and surprisingly holding. "Hm, a Rook with a Twice Critical, that is a pretty strong move..." A smirk came to her face... "Miyuki I assume you know what to do..." she said to the girl with the large purple eyes. She looked at her mistress and nodded. "Hai hai, reinforce the barriers for me and Taku-senpai! And if they can't hold then run!!~~" she mentioned as Eira walked out of the front one to begin a proper confrontation with this seemingly strong Rook.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai!" Takumi said once Miyuki and himself were instructed to follow into the school replica. He walked in tandem with the others through the building, until they were ultimately stopped in the halls by another member of the opposing peerage's active team. Takumi did not expect a straight path to the man they had to defeat by the end of this battle, but he didn't expect someone to be holed up in the halls either. Once more, the newly-made Pawn steeled himself. This woman spoke to Eira, titling her Sacred Gear as a Twice Critical. Takumi took this strangely, thinking this could be his opportunity to learn from an enemy and discover the true inner workings of his Sacred Gear by comparing it to another of its type. Alas, Eira seemed keen on taking this fight. Barriers kept Takumi and Miyuki safe from the rubble of the destroyed hall, and it was to be the case that Miyuki would take up maintaining them while Eira dealt with this Rook. From within these defenses, Takumi clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, thinking over how this Twice Critical behaved thus far. "Is this what it means to have Twice Critical? Hers get dirty and power up, while mine... powers up when it touches boobs?"