I'm back~
Don't ask me why I wrote this. I don't know.
Anyway, I might turn this into a story, or I might not. Who knows?
=========================================================
In the Habit"What do you want to eat after this, Eri?"
3 girls walked down a dark alley, seemingly with no concern for danger of any kind. Their shadows were long in the flickering streetlight suspended high ahead, hiding their features from closer view.
What it did not hide though, was the fact that these 3 girls were all, in fact, nuns. Or wearing the habits of a nun. It was uncertain if they were actually nuns or just cosplaying, especially since the girl in the lead did not act very much like a nun.
"Why does Sayu only ask Eri and not Reina?" The shortest one, who was also the one in the lead, asked with a rising note in her voice, as if playfully annoyed. The one she addressed as Sayu giggled as she walked hand in hand with the other girl named Eri.
"Because Reina always only wants to eat yakiniku, so I don't need to ask~"
Reina pouted. "What's wrong with yakiniku? It's great!"
"Yeah, all that meat and everything...Reina's such a carnivore~" Sayumi teased as she prodded the shorter girl's shoulder. The three of them had halted in the middle of that darkened street, still playfully squabbling over inconsequential things.
"Speaking of meat, I think there's some fresh ones out there." Eri, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly spoke up. She was staring into the darkness in that spacey way of hers, but there was a peculiar alertness to her dark eyes.
Reina wrinkled her nose. "Fresh? More like rotten..." The tiny nun-wannabe took a step out, wonky eye twitching violently. "Looks like we have company..."
A wet, smacking sound in the distance, followed by an unearthly groan. Sayumi cringed.
"Sounds like a big one..." Rolling her eyes, she shook back her sleeves to reveal the rosaries binding her wrists as she rapidly made the sign of a cross before raising her hands. The beads began to glow, and the 6-pointed star illuminated behind her as the barrier went up.
"Just when I'm hungry too..." Eri complained, pouting as she also held out her hands, as if in supplication to some higher power. "Do you think there are any places open this late in this part of town?" A peculiar sigil glowed behind her, and fire wreathed around her feet as she extended one hand into the rising flames.
"Well I know of this cool 24-hour place..." Reina suggested as she raised one fist into the air, electricity crackling in the air around her. Spreading her palm open, she reached up and grasped a familiar handle.
An earth-shattering roar cut off anything else Reina was going to add, as a gigantic creature of shadow and flame oozed its way into the material plane. It was vaguely blob-like, dark as night and almost blending into the shadows, but it was of a darkness more intense than the mere absence of light. One glowing red eye opened in the middle, followed by dozens of smaller ones.
"Ew." Sayu complained as an acidic spurt of shadow came hurtling in her general direction. A shimmering shield of light blocked the blow, but the impact of the projectile made it glow purple in the night. Backpedaling quickly, she sent an energy arc hurtling back towards the ugly blob thing, but the creature merely absorbed the blow as if it were nothing.
"Keh, trash from the Netherworld should just go back to hell where they belong." As always, Reina was already charging ahead, seemingly unencumbered by the flowing robe she was wearing. She held an enormous sword perpendicular before her, the length of the blade even taller than her form. What made the blade most impressive was not the reality of its length, but rather the fact that it was formed out of pure energy and glowed like the sun.
"Reina, look out!" A dark tentacle had been lashing towards the tiny girl's unprotected back, but Sayu's warnings were unneeded as a crimson scythe separated the tentacle from its source with a single fiery slash.
"Reina, you owe me another ice cream!" Eri called as she nimbly dodged another dark projectile, trying to catch up to Reina's reckless charge.
"Get Gaki-san to raise our allowance first before I can buy you anything!" Reina yelled back as she slashed vertically upwards, skidding on asphalt as her short height allowed her to easily duck another tentacle swipe.
"You know that will never happen!" Sayu interjected as she cast another quick spell on Eri, glowing orbs starting to rotate around the scythe-wielder. Eri nodded briefly at Sayu before jumping into the air and running down one raised tentacle as if it were a pathway. Negative energy sparked around her, but was canceled out by the glowing orbs of white light.
Beneath her, Reina ran one hand over her glowing blade as it sparked brightly underneath her touch. Her lips were moving to some unknown prayer as she rolled to dodge another crushing swipe, and her hair was beginning to frizz out wildly as the electricity built up around her.
"Ready?" Eri was busily jumping from tentacle to tentacle, trying to get closer to the main core of the shadow creature. Reina grinned savagely as she thrust her blade into the earth, cracking the ground as a sphere of pure energy crackled around her.
"Ready when you are!" Sayu called out, her staff held out in front of her. A glowing circle with runes was already before her, and she began to chant in some strange tongue as Reina and Eri charged up their attacks.
"Eat this!" Reina bared her teeth savagely as her bright blade leapt forward in a straight thrust. An incandescent energy surrounded her, turning her into nothing more than a bright arrow spearing ahead with little care for what lay in its path. A paranormal figure appeared to be superimposed on her form, also wielding that same giant blade of light and with great wings wrapping around her slender figure.
Above, Eri had also leapt high into the air at the same time, right above the core of the creature. Her scythe seemed to morph into flame in her hands, reforming into a fiery sword between her palms as she arched over, great fiery wings erupting from her back. The afterimage of a winged figure seemed merged with her own form, taking hold of the flaming sword and plunging it straight down even as the sword of light pierced it from below.
The resulting crash was blinding, smoke rising after the explosion. Sayu raised one hand as her prayer ascended to its apex, and she brought one hand down as chains of pure light burst out of the magic circle before her, hurtling into the midst of the smoke.
"Seal!" Her voice was high, almost strained, and her chains appeared to be struggling with something before strengthening and binding whatever was within the smoke.
Reina wandered back out of the smoke, her nun's habit more than a little scuffed and singed around the edges. Behind her, Eri wore her usual goofy grin as she followed behind the youngest of the trio towards an exhausted Sayumi.
As the smoke cleared behind them, there were unmistakable signs of a rift closing, bound and chained by the astral links that the exorcist had called up. She had just about finished her job when her comrades came to a stop on either side of her.
"Ha....that was tiring..." Sayu huffed as the rift closed, her face pale from the exertion.
"That was the third one tonight...been really busy around here lately." Reina commented, dusting herself off. "You ok now, Sayu?"
"More or less..." She looked at her partners critically. "Are you two hurt anywhere?"
"Just a scratch on my elbow." Reina shrugged. Sayu frowned as she stepped forward, her hands already glowing as she placed them on the sizable gash on the pint-sized nun's left arm.
"Mou, Reina...don't keep charging into things like that..." She scolded as the gash began to close up underneath her hands. Reina smirked.
"I don't need to worry so much since we have a portable healer with us~" Sayu rolled her eyes.
"See if I can heal you if you end up dead." Reina stuck her tongue out childishly at the older.
"I'm really hungry now." Eri piped up, playing with a strand of her lustrously dark hair. The other two stared at her, then at each other. Reina shrugged again.
"Guess we better get something to eat before we report back..." Sayu pursed her lips together thoughtfully.
"Gaki-san will be mad at us if we're late again..." Reina quirked an eyebrow.
"Do I look like I give a damn?"
"Language!" Sayu laughed. "What kind of a nun are you?"
"The butt-kicking kind." Reina breezed off as the three started walking again, continuing their light-hearted conversation.
Just a day in the life of a bunch of demon exterminators.
~*~*~
"Did you know how much damage you did to public property again this time!?" A loud voice screeched at them as they lined up in front of a large table. Reina was absently checking her nails while Sayu and Eri appeared to be whispering to each other, completely ignoring the scolding.
"Hey we did the job just fine. Quit complaining." Reina grumbled. A heavy sigh from their superior.
"Do you know how many reports I have to write to cover up the damages and stuff? Seriously..."
"Don't worry so much Gaki-san, you'll get wrinkles!" Sayumi warned as she looked up from her earnest inspection of Eri's hands. For her part, Eri seemed to be in a dazed state again. From a prophetic vision of simply lack of sleep, it was hard to tell at this point.
"Oh well, can't be helped." Gaki-san, otherwise known as Niigaki Risa, tried to give them the sternest look she could muster. It didn't turn out too well, but she tried. Reina only yawned.
"Risa, are you done yet?" A soft voice called from behind another set of doors.
"Ah, Ai-chan! Did I wake you?" Risa's voice became gentler as she addressed the sleepy-looking girl who had just wandered into her office.
"Don't get so upset with each other, the energy's very disturbing." Ai said simply as she rubbed at her eyes, the heavy pendant around her neck clinking as she moved.
"Sorry..." They had almost forgotten how sensitive the girl was. Ai gave the trio a piercing look.
"Go wash before you enter the dorms. The children might have nightmares if you come in radiating that much negative energy." The three girls mumbled their assent and shifted uncomfortably, feeling suitably chastised.
"Go sleep, Ai-chan. You have to wake up early in the morning." Risa suggested quietly.
"Alright." The tiny young woman blinked sleepily. "You get some rest soon too."
They watched as Ai left as quickly as she had come. Reina was the first to break the relative silence.
"I just don't get it sometimes...why do we all end up listening to her even when we are the ones doing all the work?"
Risa gave her the evil eye. "Don't talk about things you don't understand." At the three of them, she sighed as she glanced at the reports before her. "You're dismissed."
"Aye aye Ma'am!"
===========================================
Inspired by the choir outfits in Resonant Live. I took one look at it and went NUN! Again, don't ask me why. Might have been partially influenced by Chrno Crusade and Chrome Breaker. Apparently, I read too much manga. Haha.
Well, it's nighty-night for me now.
Do comment.
Topic: Estrea's Sandbox [6/4 - Treat] (Read 238991 times)