thenearshore | Closed

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Who: Leo and Niles
What: Well they handled the first prayer, time to go kick some ayakashi ass for prayer 8.
Where: School
When: April 1st
Warnings: Possibly swearing, violence for sure.

To be honest, if Leo had his way he'd have rather had some actual training with Niles before taking on whatever these evil spirits were called. But he got the feeling it'd be best to simply go after it, especially since it seemed to be affecting the class of the last person he'd helped.

He and Niles head down the halls of the school, looking for the room these ayakashi (and he knew he was probably saying that wrong) were in.

"Can shinki sense these creatures, Niles, or do you have no idea either?"

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"No idea."

Simple as that. He couldn't sense a damn thing except that there's something totally wrong going on. He shakes his head and walks a step ahead of Leo to defend him.

"It feels like we've been walking these halls for hours..."

"And there's no map, because of course if you attend a school you don't need a map to--"

Leo stopped, grabbing Niles's arm and pointing to a crying student and her friend. They were the first students they'd seen since arriving, as school was over for the most part. The crying one mentioned something about panicking over failing, and that she wasn't the only one in that situation in her class. A third student came out of a room and headed for the two, carrying two bags. He handed one to the crier.

"There. I'll bet you anything that's the classroom."

"Sounds like it..."

He looked towards the classroom away from the students and moves towards it, grabbing the bow he's received from his back and stretching his arms out a bit.

"Ready?" He grabbed onto the handle of the door, looking back towards his god before nodding and slamming it open.

The ayakashi, the weird eye monsters, were dancing around the room, very clearly pleased with their latest work. Leo stared at them in awe for a moment before reaching for--

Brynhildr, which he did not have. "Damn. Well, we found them."

"Well then." He looks towards Leo. He feels like he should get into a position. But what? He takes a moment and shakes his head.

"Tell me what to do, Leo."

He wants to be commanded to fight.

Leo frowned, thinking. The ayakashi were ignoring them, so...

"Fire an arrow at one. See what happens."

"Fine."

He prepares his bow and lets go a shot towards the phantoms. It bounced back... but turned all eyes to them.

"...Okay, that failed."

Leo throws out his hand, pressing all of the ayakashi down with his gravity magic. That should give them some time.

"At least we go their attention. I'm going to try using you in battle, Niles." He holds out his hand to his retainer. "Tsukiki."

"...Understood." He nods and shuts his eye before grabbing onto Leo's hand.

Before either of them knew it, Leo was holding a tattered tomb of a book, almost like Bryhildr again.

Except, this had no words in it. Completely blank pages.

Leo couldn't help but chuckle--Niles really was his shinki, made just for him. Now, to figure out how to use him.

"I don't know how long my magic will contain them--you can hear me in this form, yes? Can you speak?"

"Define speak."

It was telepathic but Niles's voice was filling Leo's head.

"I thought I'd be something better than this, though."

Well, that works. "No, this is fine. I use magic tomes back home...though those usually have words."

He could feel his spell weakening; they didn't have long. "Any idea what you do?"

"Not particularly. Although I don't think I'm like the magic you're used to."

Which seemed obvious.

"Sorry."

Leo resists the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn't Niles's fault he didn't know, but really, you'd think they'd have god lessons.

One of the ayakashi bounces over and Leo reaches for his--

Sword, which he does not have. He's noticing a pattern, here.

"Damn!" He grabs the nearest weapon-like thing he can and swings it at the ayakashi. Thankfully, the demon was too surprised by Leo attacking to dodge the swing of the old-fashioned wooden pointer. "I should have gotten a sword...

"...That is not going to last very long." That should be obvious enough at least. With the demons focused on them, maybe they can figure something else out.

"Can't you move them around with your gravity?"

"I can try. Back home I mostly used my gravity magic to terrify, not harm..." He focuses a moment and throws two of the ayakashi against a wall with his magic. One falls and vanishes, but the other gets back up. "Apparently I can. Still no idea what you do?"

"Can I suggest hitting them with me?" It was all he could think of anyways. It was simple, yet powerful. "Just get close and smack them."

Leo thinks a moment before shrugging and whacking the first ayakashi that comes close. It works, but it's clearly nothing special. "Effective, at least. Is that all you can do?"

"As far as I know." He thinks for a moment, before going. "Leo! Another one!" And almost like that, it hits him. "Hold me up when he attacks!"

"What--" Leo doesn't see where this other one is, but he obeys Niles anyway and lifts him up, ducking.

The book creates a force field, and the Akayashi attacks with enough force for it to cause vibrations. But then it gets destroyed, with the rip of a page falling to the ground.

"...So. I defend. Do it again, Leo!"

"Not what I expected, but it will work." Leo does it again, this time sending a distant ayakashi flying with his magic while another bounces off their force-field. Both fall to the ground, vanished. "There has to be a more efficient way to do this. That can wait, though." They only had a few left to handle.

"Use gravity and the reflection. Pull them towards us quickly so they hit and get destroyed." It was teamwork. But Niles knew exactly what would kill a lot in a short period of time now. And he wasn't going to fail Leo. Not now.

Leo laughed and squeezed the spine of Niles's book, a little affectionate. How else do you show a book that you're grateful for them and their ideas?

"That should do it." He began to pull the monsters close as fast as he could. "Get ready."

The forcefield went up immediately, and reflected the attack, destroying the monsters with almost the same speed as they were pulled in. The last of the monsters were destroyed, very quickly.

"Not bad... not bad at all.

"Indeed." He looked down at Niles. "So. Now to change you back."

"...How do we do that? Any ideas?"

Leo hummed and set Niles down on a desk that hadn't been overturned in the fight. They would need to straighten up a bit.

"Tsukiki." Well, it worked one way. "Niles."

Just like that, he came back, sitting on the desk while crossing his legs.

"...Well, that's a relief." He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm exhausted..."

"As am I. Let's clean this mess up, and then return to the temple."

Niles nodded and began to flip over the desks and chairs, shaking his head. "So, this is what we're going to be doing. Fighting these monsters."

"We did back home as well." Leo gathered up the fallen items from desks and set them roughly in the right spot. Hopefully no one would ask what had happened. "Only it was to save the world, not our own power."

"...So, you still aren't going to tell me what happened to cause us to leave that world, are you?" Niles would always ask. Until Leo told him.

Leo sighed. "I told you, Niles, I don't know why we came here, of all places, after the war."

"...I don't believe that for a second." And he never would.

"Then I don't know what to tell you." Leo finished up and brushed his hands on his pants. "I don't lie, Niles, not to you."

"It's not that I think you're lying. It's that I think you're not telling me everything."

That made him snort. "I've told you all I can, Niles. I promise."

"...All I can isn't the same as All I know. And you know that." Niles looks at him. "Don't mince words. It doesn't suit you."

"They may not be the same, but what I can is a hard limit that not even I can push past," he replied, meeting Niles's gaze. "When that changes, you will be the first person to know. I promise."

"If you don't someday tell me, I'll make you regret hiding such a thing from me." He looks at him, placing the last books on the bookshelf.

"...I don't like secrets."

He sighs. "I know you don't, Niles. I know better than anyone. But when I say I can't, I mean it literally. I am physically unable to tell you everything I know."

Was that true? Possibly not. But there was a feeling that Leo considered as good as the inability to speak about how Niles died.

Niles stood there for a moment... and then chuckled a bit.

"Leo. Saying if you never tell me, I'll punish is meaningless speech. When would the timelimit of 'never' begin?"

Smiling towards him. Not dirty or filthy. But... a smile Leo's seen before.

A smile for him.

"I'm only teasing you, Leo. ...I will always trust you. And never betray you."

Leo's heart jumped a little at that smile. It had taken so long for Niles to truly smile like that, and it's wonderful to know he still will for him despite everything.

He managed to mask that with an annoyed huff and smirk, though. "Ass. And I know that as well, just as I will always trust you." He chuckled. "Let's go back to the temple. I need a bath."

"Ah, I get the bath first, right?" He smirks and moves to step in front of him. "My legs are killing me and I'll need a long time in that thing tonight."

"Of course. A shame it isn't large enough to share--like a hot spring."

"Then we'll just have to find one." He shrugs his shoulders.

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