As Raphael lays in the darkness, he sees the lights on the console of his pod slowly brighten up and turn on, until they all are on and in full motion.
The lid of the pod Raphael is in slowly starts to become illuminated, showing the rest of the room. Raphael looks around the outside of the pod wearily with a slight pain in the center of his back, which he figures is because his brain still thinks that he has that back wound from the simulation, so his nerves are reacting to the pain that he felt in virtual reality.
After the lid of the simulation pod is completely illuminated, it decompresses itself from the rest of the pod and lifts up above Raphael's head. Raphael then lifts himself from his seat and climbs out.
Once Raphael is out of the pod, he sees Miyra and June are also out of their pods. He greets them with a hello and June immediately lunges at him and grips him with a hug. “Don't you dare die on me again....” she says to him in a hushed tone before pulling herself away from him. She then immediately turns around and gives Miyra a smile.
Miyra looks towards June with bewilderment in her eyes. She turns her curiosity away quickly, trying not to question June's suddenly odd behavior. “Well, anyway. Raphael, you're free for the rest of the day, so go ahead and do whatever you want. I, on the other hand, have a lot of work left to do in the bunker, so I'm going to go head back to the C&I room. You two have a good time now.” Miyra says before turning around and walking out of the simulation room and down a corresponding hallway.
“And I was being serious,” reprimands June once Miyra has left. “Do not die on me ever again!”
“Oh come on June, I was just unconscious, nothing else.” Raphael admits to June. “Anyway, what do you say that we go back to my house and get something to eat.”
“Well, actually,” says June as her and Raphael start walking out of the simulation room. “I was thinking that you and me could take a walk around your neighborhood. Ya know, just to see the sights a little.”
“June, you know that we can't do that.” says Raphael as him and June walk out of the simulation room and down a hallway opposite the way Miyra had gone. “If we go outside, then we would both be in great danger. I've already told you this world's policy on extra-terrestrial life, and none of us here can allow any harm to come to you.”
After Raphael has finished his sentence, June starts to chuckle to herself. “Raphael, there's more than one way for me to go around your world. Come on, let's go to the armory real fast and I'll show you.”
Without wanting to question June, Raphael follows her through the hallways of the bunker until they run into Chiot, who is standing against a wall near the armory.
“Hey Chiot.” Raphael greets Chiot as he walks towards him. “Whatcha doing near the armory?”
“Just watching the people go by. There really isn't an emergency or any mission going on right now, so I'm just sitting back and just doing nothing. What are you up to, kid?”
“June says that she wants to take a walk around my neighborhood, and I told her that we can't because of how she's from outer space. Then she said that there was a way she could walk around outside, and then she said that we needed to go to the armory. Do you have any idea what she is talking about?”
“Yes I do, kid. Just follow me into the armory and I'll show ya.” Chiot walks into the armory with Raphael and June following close behind. He walks all the way to the back of the armory and to the left. He then grabs a gauntlet off of one of the racks and gives it to June. “June, if you know about the ways that you could go around a secluded planet, then you probably know how to use this. Go ahead, put it on and make sure that it works.
June grabs the gauntlet from Chiot's hands and attaches it to her arm. She twists a small tightening switch on the bottom until it is tightened down correctly and then starts pressing a few buttons on the wrist section of the gauntlet until the circular part on the forehand of the gauntlet begins to spin.
Suddenly, June's figure disappears in a cloud of white smoke. As the smoke dissipates, another figure starts to come into focus. The figure is that of a five foot tall, long blond haired girl with brown eyes that is around June's age. She does not look animated in the slightest, and looks completely earth-like to Raphael.
Raphael is taken a-back by this. He knows that there was some way for June to walk around the streets of his home world, that he didn't underestimate in the slightest, he just didn't expect that the technology being used would be so dignified and work so quickly.
“Hah, worked like a charm.” Chiot laughs into the air as Raphael stares at June in amazement. June stares at her new blond hair with excitement in her eyes. “I always wondered how I would look like in blond hair, guess I finally found out.”
Raphael touches June's arm as he stares uncontrollably. The anime-looking girl that was in front of him moments ago has suddenly turned into an earth girl. “June, you... you're an....”
“Not really, Raphael.” answers Chiot to Raphael's amazement. “Although she may look like she's from your world, she still looks animated in my eyes. The gauntlet that I gave her, which the UMA calls a 'Decoy Device', has only been fine-tuned to match Numerous eyes. Although you see her in the fine definition that you would see people from your world, she's still the same to me. If you have any questions for me about a few of the things you just discovered, feel free to ask.”
“Alright, I have a few, actually.” Raphael raises his right index and middle finger into the air. “First off, what's with this anime thing that's going on when I see anyone off of my world. Second off, I'm wondering how magic works, since me and June have already used something similar to it over the last two days. Any answer is fine, I know that you're not a sage or anything like that, so any answer you can come up with is fine.”
Chiot looks towards Raphael with a slight tinge of anger in his eyes from Raphael's statement about him not being intelligent. “Raphael, maybe I should have told you a little bit about my background yesterday. I come from an incredibly valuable and very prosperous family of merchants. Throughout my childhood I was given the best education that was up for offer by those close to my family, which is entire governments. So Raphael, I may not be a sage, but don't think for a second that I'm not intelligent.”
Chiot calms himself, and then continues “For your two questions, though, I do have answers. I will use my people as an example. The eyes of my people and all other people across the universe are not adapted to seeing people from other planets, so they see them as if they are from an anime or cartoon. Although, prolonged contact with another race from another planet for long periods of time will make the genetics of the eyes of my children eventually be able to see another race as clearly as my own race, especially if I marry someone from another race, as this process will make the children that come later see the parent's races normally upon birth.”
“As for your second question, however,” Chiot explains. “magic is real and usable by people who have the potential to use it. Before you ask, there are two types of magic. Magic used by tapping into the god of your religion and magic used by tapping into the demon of your religion. You can notice whether a person is using either type of magic by seeing either a white or a black aura around their magic when it's used, white for god magic and black for demon magic. The magic that you and June use is the magic of the God of Many.”
“Also, before you ask, it's not a sin to use god magic, so not all magic is evil. The magic schools of gods and demons also can't harm their own and people who are like minded towards them. So you, Raphael, couldn't harm June or anyone else in this bunker with your magic since they all are good affiliated and we are all on the same side. And before I forget, if you are a focused enough wizard, you can control who your magic hurts, which can come in handy when you need to only hurt certain people. Now, are you sure that you have no other questions?”
“Other then personal information about the people in my group, nothing else really.” as Raphael speaks he starts hearing a slight whistling coming from down the hallway. Although he can barely hear it, it is still the most wonderful whistle he has ever heard. The whistle comes closer and closer towards him, but he can care less what is coming his way, he is just enjoying the beautiful symphony.
As Raphael stares out the doorway of the armory, a figure in a quilted black sweater with an iron breastplate over top of it appears in the doorway. It is Sherah.
Sherah doesn't notice everyone right away. She is walking down the armory hallway with her eyes closed and her hands behind her head. She is obviously enjoying some time off, since today isn't supposed to be that important to anyone at the bunker.
Once she opens her eyes, however, her whistling stops. When she looks into the armory and sees June using a decoy gauntlet, her expression goes from a smile to a scowl. She walks into the armory with a menacing aura around her and grabs June by the gauntlet on her arm and starts billowing out in anger. “June, what the hell do you think you're doing!?” screams Sherah. “You can't go out in the open, especially if there are Demu still out there! Who's idea was it for you to go out in public!?”
“It was mine and mine alone, Sherah.” June stares back at an angered Sherah without even twitching. “No one else thought of this and I was the one who asked to go out and see Raphael's neighborhood. If it helps, Raphael was completely against this to begin with, but now that he knows about the decoy devices, I don't think that he has much more of a complaint.”
Sherah's gaze shifts away from June and over to Raphael, who is standing on the side lines and letting Sherah vent her anger. She loosens her grip on June's arm and turns toward Raphael. “You didn't try to stop her...?” suddenly, Sherah goes from a slow movement to a walking charge towards Raphael. “What the freaking hell is the matter with you!? You're supposed to be the Guardian for goodness sake! You should know from what happened yesterday that there is an extreme danger outside of the walls of this bunker, both from the Demu and your people!”
“Sherah,” says Raphael as he slowly gets his nerves about him. “I told you the day before that June is not just 'the Key' and nobody is going to treat her as an object. As long as I'm the guardian and June is in this bunker, she has the free will to go about whatever she wishes. I'm not going to stop her from seeing my world and neither are you or anybody else here in this bunker. Do I make myself clear?”
As Raphael speaks, Sherah starts to back herself away as her rage slowly starts to dissipate. Although she isn't as blistering mad as she was earlier, Raphael can still see a hint of rage in her eyes. She knows who the commander of this organization is, and she isn't going to disobey a direct order. “Tch, whatever, but if June's going out anywhere, I'm going with her. Chiot! Pass me a decoy device, I'm going out!”
After Sherah has completely loaded herself out with all of the necessaries and a decoy device, the small group heads for the elevator to the surface. As Sherah presses the elevator button, Raphael gets closer to June to whisper in a quick request. “Hey June,” he whispers. “do you have any idea why Sherah is so angry? Is she normally like this?”
June doesn't answer Raphael, she just turns her head towards him and gives him a quick head shake. She would have given him a better answer or a hypothesis, but since Sherah is standing just a few feet away and is now coming towards the two of them, she doesn't have enough time to give a detailed answer.
The three slowly make their ascension up to the bright surface. Once the elevator is level to the ground, they get off of the elevator platform and walk towards Raphael's house.
Once the group is in the house, June starts complaining that she is hungry. Sherah tells Raphael and June to go and have a seat in the living room while she gathers together something to eat.
Raphael and June sit down next to each other on the living room couch while Sherah pulls together some food for June. Seeing the opportunity, Raphael asks his question again, this time pulling himself closer to June and whispering his question in her ear.
Once Raphael finishes asking his question, June flicks her ear to symbolize that she is going to whisper her response. Raphael leans his head closer to June as she starts whispering her theories. “Honestly, I have no idea what's going on with her. She used to give me complete freedom, but now she's starting to act totally out of line. As for why she's so angry, it could either be from jealousy or maternal instincts or... I-I have no idea, Raphael, I just don't know....” as June mutters her last words to Raphael, she hears the microwave in the kitchen beep. Knowing that Sherah is going to come into the living room at any moment, June pushes Raphael away while saying “Act natural!”
Raphael knows that Sherah is going to come back at any moment, so he uses his telekinesis to pull the T.V. remote that is at the coffee table over to him. Once he has it in his hand, He flicks the on button for the T.V. and places the remote down on the couch as Sherah comes into the room.
Sherah walks over to the couch and situates herself in between Raphael and June, telling Raphael to “Move over.” as she sits down. She gives June her food and gives Raphael the evil eye as she sits.
The group sits in silence for a few more moments before Raphael suddenly shots himself up out of his seat. “Oh, that's right,” speaks Raphael as he gets off of the couch. “I need to go get the mail. Guys, I'll be right back.” Raphael then leaves through the front door for his mailbox with Sherah watching him the entire time.
Sherah watches through the window as Raphael walks out to his mailbox, him stopping halfway there to look at somebody who is staring at him from across the street. Even though Raph shrugs off the odd gaze, Sherah notices that there is something wrong with the man that is still staring at Raph. Working on a hunch, Sherah pulls out a pair of glasses from her pocket and places them on her face. She aims a telescopic camera that is on her glasses towards the man and takes a picture of him. She then says “Send to Yen” before pressing another button on the right leg of her glasses and saying “Call Yen.”
Before Yen could even mutter a hello, Sherah starts barking out orders. “Yen, I just sent you a picture of a man who's acting suspiciously. Can you get me any information on who he might be? The sooner the better!”
“As you order, Sherah,” says Yen through the communication device on the back of Sherah's glasses. “I'm looking him up right now on earth's data networks. Just give me a second and I'll have your information for you.... Alright, the information is funneling through... oh boy.... This guy is a major bad guy. Data records say that he's a child molester from a Pontractus Numerous eastern continent. It seems that he escaped from the nation recently and caught a cargo shipment to the United States of America to escape indictment. Afterward, I suppose that he must have moved into Raphael's neighborhood. If I were you, I would suggest that you take care of him before he does any more harm than he already has.”
“Alright Yen, I'll tell Raphael when he gets back into the house.” Sherah watches Raphael as he goes out of the window's view and towards the front door. “We might need your help in a few seconds, but it really depends on whether or not Raphael wants to do anything about it. Over and out.”
When Sherah finishes speaking to Yen, Raphael enters into the house through the front door. He looks towards June and Sherah while shifting the mail in his hands. “Um, is there anything you guys need?” He asks as he starts walking towards the kitchen.
“Actually, there is something.” Sherah's words stop Raphael in his tracks. He turns around and asks Sherah what she needs. “Did you notice that guy that was staring at you from across the street?”
Raphael looks through the front window to see if the man is still there, but he has already left. “Yeah, I noticed him. What about him?”
Sherah lifts herself from her seat and looks outside through the window. “Alright, It seems like he's left for now. Listen, that guy is a very bad man. He's a guy who likes children the wrong way and he's just recently moved into your neighborhood. It's your call, but I say that we should take care of him, like get rid of him. As said, I'm not the commander of our group, so I don't have the authority to call a hit out on him. It's your choice, leave him alone and leave a risk in your neighborhood, or do something about it before hand.”
“Oh were going to do something about it alright.” Raphael walks towards the door as he speaks, opens it, and looks around the front of his house just to make sure that the man has left. He then shuts the door and walks towards the back door. “Everyone, follow me. I just thought up a plan for us to use. To have it work, though, we're going to need a few decoy devices and something to communicate with.”
“What exactly are you planning, Raph?” asks June as she lifts herself from her seat and follows Raphael towards the back door.
“We're going to need three people minimum for this. Me, the bait, and an extra person for support when we go to capture him. I'll tell you more when we get everyone together....”
As the sun is starting to wane on the horizon, a little boy around the age of fifteen can be seen on the sidewalk of the three-way intersection near Raphael's house. One leads further down Raphael's street left of his house and the other one out of Raphael's neighborhood. The last street leads straight towards Raphael's house only two houses down and to an eventual dead end.
The boy is sitting on the edge of the sidewalk and playing with a stick as he waits, but all is not as it seems....
In a nearby vacant house, Raphael and June lay in wait as they watch the boy. “I hope Miyra knows what she's doing....” says Raphael while he watches through his glasses towards the boy. His focus turns away from the boy towards a nearby drainage ditch filled with high-standing grass. Hidden within this grass is Sherah, who is wielding an H70 military grade automatic rifle with a red dot sight. She is wearing a full forest camouflage suit and a military beret. She lays prone in the grass, waiting for the sign to spring the trap.
Time passes slowly as the boy sits in wait, pretending to be bored and doing nothing but swatting the stones on the street with his stick. Raphael sighs as he watches the boy in the setting sun. If the man doesn't show himself within an hour, then they will have to pack everything up and try again tomorrow or at some other date when everyone has enough time on their hands. “Dammit! Come on, take the freaking bait already...!” says Raphael under his breath as he watches out the house's front window. He turns from his vantage point and looks towards June, who is looking out another window to the left of Raphael's position. He sighs and begins to speak. “At this rate, we mine-as-well just pack up and go-”
June interrupts Raphael mid-sentence. “Raph! He's here!” as June speaks silently, she leaps down into a crouching position underneath the window. “A smile forms on Raphael's face as he watches the man walk by the window. Silently, he moves his hand towards the back of his newly upgraded glasses and speaks in a whisper to Miyra. “Miyra, don't look, but he's coming right towards you. On my signal, spring the trap.”
“Spring it in three...” the man slithers through the lawn of the abandoned house, like a predator stalking his prey. As far as he knows, this is an easy mark. All he needs to do is snatch him up and leave, nobody would know.
“Two...” the man continues to motion forward, revealing a drugged cloth as he walks towards the boy. His footsteps are silent on the dry ground, even the decoy can't hear him, she just has to stay in her position until she is told otherwise.
“One...” at this point the man is only five feet away from the boy. He raises the cloth up as he nears closer to him, evil thoughts in his head.
“Now!!” Raphael screams for Miyra to spring the trap, his yell enough to jolt the man's head towards the house Raphael is in. He then swings his head back towards the boy as he hears a popping sound. The boy has suddenly disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Before the man is able to back away from the trap, an animated fist flies out from the smoke and punches the man straight in his mouth. The force of the punch is so powerful that it sends the man flying back down the lawn and onto his back.
As soon as Sherah notices the distinctive 'pop' that comes with a decoy device turning on and off, she rushes to her feet and sprints towards where the boy was at moments ago, which was Miyra using a decoy device. Raphael and June also sprint out of the vacant house they were using as cover with their weapon's raised.
The four people stand in a line in front of the man, blocking any way to escape. Raphael speaks before any of the others. “You, sir, are under arrest for your crimes against children! As a member of the UMA, I will personally see to it that you are put in a UMA holding cell for as long as time is young! Now tell me, what do you have to say for yourself!?”
As the man begins to speak, June places a hand against Raphael's torso as he starts moving forward. “Wait,” she says “something's happening to him. I'm sensing a sinister aura coming from him... oh no... he-he's changing...!”
The man lays on the ground as the group of four look at him, with one of them having a cold sweat gathering on her face. Suddenly, a sinister laugh can be heard coming from the man's direction. “UMA?...” the laughter ends as he begins to speak. “The Universal Military Alliance huh, I was wondering when they would come after me!”
Before Raphael can ask how someone from his world knows about the UMA, the man cuts him off. “Judging from the looks of you, it seems that they're letting in younger and younger little whelps. Heh, they must be getting desperate.” the man's body suddenly starts to levitate into the air as a purple aura begins to envelope him. As his body goes vertical into the air, he begins to laugh again, this time his laugh turning into that of a blood-curtailing demonic screech.
As the group watches in horror, the man's body begins to twist and turn in ways that no human-being should. His shirt tears to shreds as his body becomes too big for it's clothing. His arms and legs extend into six foot long limbs covered in muscle. His hands and feet become twice as large as Raphael's head. Massive black claws grow out of his hands and feet, making his shoes and gloves explode into ribbons. His hair begins to flake off of his head like dandruff and twisting horns grow from where it used to be. His eyes melt away like an outer shell, leaving behind gleaming yellow lights where his eyes used to be. His teeth sharpen themselves out to fine points and his skin turns into the color of purple leather. When the aura fades and his feet touch the ground again, he has become the figure of an eleven foot tall demon from hell.
“Oh shit...” Sherah looks at the demon, then at Raphael, and then back to the demon as he goes back to the ground. Moving on instinct, she throws Raphael her H70 automatic rifle and grabs June by her arm. “Raphael!” she yells to him as she starts shuffling June back to the house. “This one's all yours and Miyra's, I'm going to get June out of here!”
Raphael gives Sherah a swift nod and then immediately turns his head towards the man demon. “You aren't really a man, are you?” Raphael says to the demon as Miyra draws a desert eagle from her hip holster. “It was all just a cover to scout Numerous, wasn't it!?”
The demon laughs to himself as he listens to Raphael's claims. “Ignorant little worm!” he says when he finishes laughing. “Why do you think we go to hell? It is because of our sins in our past life. Although I have been sent to hell for it, The Devil of Many has made me proud of my accomplishments in my former life. He was so proud of me, he sent me searching for.... I should not tell you. Even when you die here, you could still tell your Gods when you go to heaven. You shall gain nothing from me, whelp!”
“So you're proud of molesting children...?” questions Raphael before readying his rifle. His expression turns stone cold as he points his H70 towards the demon's head. “Oh, I'm going to have a field day with this!”
“You, demon,” says Miyra as she readies her hand cannon. “will now pay for your sins! You face before you the mighty Guardian! He and the Key will destroy you and your petty armies of Demu!”
“The Guardian and the Key...?” the Demon readies himself into a combat stance as he moves his fingers in the air, ready to snap them. “By the Lord Devil, my general is going to love this, not only has the location of the Guardian been found, but I was the one who killed the little twerp and his band of incompetents.”
Raphael looks towards Miyra and gives her an angry glare, he then turns right around and starts lying to the Demon in hopes of swaying what he tells his general when he goes back to hell. “When we send you back to hell, you shouldn't tell your general or anyone else that we're in this neighborhood, because we're moving out of it tomorrow for a place off-planet. As long as June's in my custody, she will never die by your hands or anyone else's!”
“Heh hah, we'll see about that!” the Demonic Demu looks Raphael dead in his eyes as he snaps his fingers, opening two black Demu portals to his sides to the Demu universe. Demu flood out of the portals moments later like rushing water.
Miyra and Raphael quickly start unloading their weapons into the invading forces, but it isn't enough. The Demu pour out of the portals no matter how many bullets Raphael and Miyra pump into them. Before long, Raphael's H70 runs out of ammo, and since he got his gun from Sherah with nothing but the clip that was already in it, Raphael has to resort to bashing the Demu spawns with his rifle. Miyra, on the other hand, has plenty of extra rounds hidden away in her battle armor.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
After Raphael downs a few more of the Demu spawns with his rifle butt, the demon has had enough. He rushes towards Raphael and backhands him so hard that he is sent flying three stories into the air and through the roof of a house on the other side of the street.
Miyra soon runs out of ammo after trying to pump a few rounds into the torso of the Demon, but to no avail as his hide is to strong. After which, she turns her attention away from the Demon and decides that she needs to retreat back to the house. She throws her weapon to the sidewalk and draws her broadsword as she starts clearing a path through the Demu back to the house.
By the time Raphael has regained his senses, Miyra is already back in the house and has called in to the bunker for reinforcements. Raphael rubs his head as he starts to look around the room. He has apparently landed in the living room of a house, and judging from the fact that there is nobody in the room, Raphael concludes that the occupant's must have left for work already.
Raphael raises himself from the rubble of his landing and walks over to a nearby window overlooking the house's front lawn. From what he can see from his position, the Demu are all over the neighborhood, but the Demu portals have already closed. Half of the Demu have apparently been ordered to attack Raphael's house while the other half are now running towards his location.
Seeing as he is unarmed, Raphael runs over to the front door of the house and switches the bolt-lock shut, he then turns his attention away from the doorway and decides that he now needs to find a method of escape.
As Raphael walks past the rubble from the ceiling, he sees two Demu infantry appear over top of the hole in the ceiling and drop down into the room. Once they land, Raphael goes from a walk into a full-sprint through the house.
The front door caves in as Demu smash it down, them then running into the house. Raphael hears this and sprints even faster until he reaches a room deeper in the house. When he gets into the room, he slams the door behind him, only to have it stop halfway with a Demu hand sticking out of the side of the door. Raphael keeps applying pressure to the door while kicking the Demu's hand until it eventually pulls it's hand back. Raphael then shuts the door and turns the lock on the knob.
Seeing that this wooden door isn't going to be enough to stop the horde of enemies that are coming after him, Raphael runs over to a cabinet to the side of the door, crouches to the side of it and pushes the cabinet in front of the door, buying him a few more minutes to find a way to escape.
Judging from what he can see, Raphael concludes that the room he is in is a study of some sort. There are book shelves spread across every section of the room and a large, regal-like desk situated in the middle of the area.
Luckily, there is a way out in the form of two windows on the far side of the room. Before Raphael can even move closer in the window's direction, he is struck by another blistering headache and a vision.
Raphael shuts his eyes tight and goes to his knees. He grits his teeth and lets the vision run it's course. By now, he has started to understand how these visions work.
During his vision, he sees himself turning his arm into a sword and cleaving this armblade through swathes of enemies like a hot knife through butter. He also sees himself holding what he can only consider a sunstone katana and focusing his energy into his arm. As he focuses, the katana disappears into a beam of light that moves to where his arm is. After the light has dispersed, he sees himself fold the fingers on his hand into a karate chop-like form and 'flicking' his arm in the air.
Once he has flicked his arm, the same beam of light that he had witnessed go into his arm earlier appears again, but it is replaced when it disperses with the katana that he had been holding moments ago. Although his arm is now a sword, he can still feel his arm underneath it. As soon as he feels his fingers move away from each other, his katana disappears and his arm returns to it's normality. It quickly becomes clear to Raphael that he has now unlocked the ability to be armed at anytime, and anywhere.
Once Raphael's headache clears, he looks around the room. Knowing that he is still unarmed and the Demu could get through the door at any time, Raphael searches the room for any kind of weapon for him to use if the Demu get through the door. After he searches the room back and forth, his eyes eventually lock onto a mantle on the other side of the room. Situated on that mantle is an unloaded rifle and a katana. Raphael runs from his position over to the mantle and pulls down the katana. In one quick motion, Raphael unsheathes the katana and throws the sheath away.
Raphael looks back towards the barricaded door and notices that the Demu are only mere moments away from tearing it down. Seeing as time is running short, Raphael focuses on his arm as quickly as he can. He feels the katana start to move up into the air, so he lets it go as a white light starts to envelope it. The light engulfs the katana and then moves towards Raphael's arm and then completely surrounds it. Once the light has completely dispersed, Raphael opens up the nearby window and jumps out of it right as the Demu infantry break through the doorway. The Demu funnel through the room and out the window Raphael had gone through moments ago and chase him down the block.
Raphael sprints down the driveway of the house, heading back towards his own. He looks back to notice that the Demu are still chasing him, so he starts sprinting as fast as he can.
The Demu chase Raphael until they reach the three-way intersection Raphael was at earlier. By the time they arrive there, Raphael has started to hear words in his head. Raphael instantly knows that these words are a spell of some sorts. Seeing as he is severally out-numbered and he doesn't want to bring extra enemies to his house, Raphael figures that the best course of action is to fight the Demu that are chasing him with his new spell.
Raphael spins around mid-run and throws his hand forward towards the spawns. He chants the words “Yuomin Chonims Foratu!” with a sense of seriousness in his voice. After chanting the mystical words, an orange circle of arcane power appears in front of his hand.
Knowing that the Demu will be all over him in seconds if he can't get this spell working, Raphael does the only sensible thing he can think of, throwing his hand forward through the middle of the circle.
By the time Raphael has thrown his hand through the circle, the head Demu is only about ten feet away. As his hand goes through the circle, a white-tinged stream of flame billows out of the circle towards his enemies. The Demu begin burning and flailing to the ground as their flesh is melted and destroyed by the holy fire. The Demu that are in the back of the swarm notice the flames and hold themselves back, fearing the fire.
As Raphael's flamethrower spell dies down, he sees that there is a small group of Demu that remain from the carnage. He flicks out his armblade and leaps over the downed Demu towards the ones that had survived. He stabs the first one straight ahead after running straight through the dying flames, catching him completely off-guard. He then pulls his armblade out of the Demu's chest and spins around backwards to slash the Demu on his right across the gut as it attempts to stab him, but misses. Raphael then reverse high-kicks another Demu as it comes up from behind him. A Demu backs off slightly and is about to come at Raphael again when it is struck down with an armblade katana to the head.
Raphael notices the few remaining Demu are now coming straight towards him with their blades raised. Another Demu comes up from behind the Demu that Raphael had just killed and attempts to swipe his blade across Raphael's skull. He dodges down, out of the way of the blade and uses his strength to launch his armblade upward and through the bottom of the Demu's chin. Raphael kicks the Demu off of his armblade and reverse sweep kicks another Demu that comes up from his side, coming from the direction that the flaming carnage was moments ago. He slams down the tip of his katana on the downed Demu and looks around afterward to notice that he has in fact killed every single one of the Demu.
After lowering his battle stance, he starts to wonder where the big demon man bastard has gone. He wasn't in the battle that Raphael had just fought in and he didn't see him over where his house is at, so Raphael starts to wonder exactly where that demon has gone to.
Raphael suddenly hears a loud demonic yell coming from above him. He looks heaven-ward and sees a black dot floating in the air above him.
Raphael sprints out of the way down the street as he sees the purple-skinned figure of the demon rapidly descend down to earth.
The demon lands with such force that he crumples the asphalt underneath of him. The shockwave from his landing is so tremendous that it sends Raphael flying head over heels down the street. Raphael's body flips in the air three times before skidding to a stop on his stomach.
“Hahaha, foolish little human, you stand no chance against a standing member of HEC!” The demon raises his hand's up as black flames start to raise from the ground and envelope him. “Lord Zard will be grateful when he hears of your defeat here today. Now Guardian, prepare to die by my hand!” The demon launches a flaming black ball of evil burning fury towards Raphael as he lays motionless on the ground. The black fireball lands right on top of Raphael, enveloping his location in a searing black fire.
Raphael lays on the ground moments before the fireball's impact. His mind is now flaring up in pain. A new ability is now becoming clear to him, and just in the knick of time. As his headache dissipates, he sees a vision of himself facing a malfunctioning automatic door. The vision is not of him blowing the door to pieces, or of him running through the doorway at mach-speed. The vision is of him literally phasing out of reality and appearing moments later behind the door. The air around Raphael ripples and splits in different directions, and then he just simply disappeared. Less than a second later, the air on the other side of the malfunctioning door shifts, his image appearing out of the fabric of time. Once he is completely back into reality, he simply walks away from the door and out of sight. The vision ends soon after that.
The black fireball soars closer and closer to Raphael as he lays spread out on the asphalt street. He looks up just in time to notice the fireball moments before impact. Thinking as quickly as he can, he looks behind him and uses his new ability to phase right behind the blast radius of the fireball.
The demon laughs, thinking now that his victory is certain. “Puny little human! You stood no chance against me, Guardian or not!” he continues to laugh to himself as he raises himself from the ground, his face mere inches away from the blazing black fire that envelopes him.
Raphael watches the demon laugh horrendously from behind the flame. “Heh, egotistical little bastard. I think it's time I take him down a notch or two.” he thinks to himself Without missing a step, Raphael phases out of his position and reappears moments later right at the eleven foot tall Demon's feet.
The Demon doesn't notice him at first and just continues to laugh at his false victory. To draw the Demon's attention, Raphael decided to cut him across his upper leg. He spins around in a circle and slashes the Demon with his armblade right across his thigh. Raphael slashes his sword with such force that he is able to cleave through the Demon's protective hide, slashing a clean cut through his skin.
Before the Demon can react to Raphael's attack, Raphael spins around and sweep kicks the Demon with just enough force to drop him to one knee. Without skipping a beat, he then high-kicks the Demon straight in his chin as he drops to his knees. The Demon is hit hard enough from Raphael's blow that he falls to his back, gripping his chin.
Raphael flips backwards away from the Demon and comes up on his feet, his armblade still active. He readies himself into a combat stance and looks the Demon straight in his eyes as he rises to his feet. “You're a slippery little runt,” the demon brings up his clawed hands and looks straight back at Raphael. “but that won't be enough to save you from me. I am the master of trickery and the black flame, fear my name and rue the day that you met me, little child, for I am Ponretin, member of HEC!
Raphael says nothing back to Ponretin, he simply looks back at him with an immense, burning fury in his eyes. While Raphael watches his foe, he notices that the fighting that was going on down the street at his house had suddenly stopped. He figures that the UMA must have won the battle and decides that his battle with Ponretin was more important than checking to make sure.
With his armblade risen, Raphael points his left hand behind him and sends out a kinetic burst that blasts him through the air at great speed. Raphael points his armblade towards Ponretin, hoping to end the fight in one fowl swoop.
When Raphael's armblade is only mere inches away from Ponretin's chest, Ponretin's arm smacks him away with a mighty swat. Raphael hits the ground with a mighty thud, his body continuing to move across the ground afterward. His body gets dragged at an intense speed straight through his backyard fence and lands in the center of his yard.
Raphael gets to his hands and knees and shakes his head, trying to shrug off the major blow that was just dealt to him. He looks up afterward to see the great purple demon walked slowly towards him. He also hears a female voice yell “Boom!” from down the street right before he notices a large, flaming artillery shell fly by Ponretin's head and land somewhere out of sight.
Ponretin hears the blast and turns his head to look towards the direction of the artillery flash. “Damn, you little mongrel!” he screams as he points an open purple palm down the street. Seeing the opportunity, Raphael leaps into action and rushes towards Ponretin with his armblade raised high. He jumps on top of a section of his fence and then leaps off of it towards Ponretin, his katana aimed towards Ponretin's head.
Ponretin sees Raphael coming once again. He grabs Raphael out of the air while still aiming his hand down the street. While Raphael is being held in his grasp, he notices exactly who he is aiming at. Ponretin is aiming towards Miyra, who is looking dead at him with an anti-tank gun hoisted on her shoulder. She was aiming dead at his shoulder, which was where she fired her next shell at.
The anti-tank shell hits with such force that it leaves a gaping wound on Ponretin's shoulder and forces Ponretin to recoil in pain, launching his hand backwards and sending Raphael out of his grasp and into a nearby tree.
Raphael flies through a few branches before flicking his armblade away and grabbing a hold of a thick branch near the mid-section of the tree and flipping himself onto the top of the branch.
As he watches an ensuing firefight go on between Ponretin and Miyra, with Ponretin launching what looked like flaming black shards towards Miyra and Miyra hiding behind a house for cover while aiming around the house periodically to get a shot off at Ponretin, Raphael starts to hear more words in his head. This time, however, his head does not hurt, and his head starts to feel cold.
Raphael knows that this time he has unlocked an ice spell of some sorts. He raises his hand into the air in front of him as he starts reciting the words that were just spoken into his mind. “Rigt Mong Tooh!” he says through memory with his eye's closed. He feels a cold breeze go over his hand, and when he opens his eyes, he sees ice starting to form out of the hot summer air around his open palm. The ice continues to grow until they became three large icicles that rotate seamlessly around his hand.
Raphael knows that Miyra is going to need some help against Ponretin and he also knows that he couldn't let that giant demon hulk around his town for much longer. Raphael aims his hand towards Ponretin's knee and pushes forward. As he pushes, one of the icicles becomes still over top of his hand, and then launches through the air directly towards Ponretin's knee.
The icicle shard hits Ponretin right underneath his kneecap, making him yelp in pain while shooting out one last black fire shard before turning his attention to his injured leg. Unfortunately, that last shard was enough to end the firefight. The black shard flies through the air right as Miyra fires one last shell off at the great purple monster. Miyra's last shot flies true and lands right in Ponretin's kneecap, severing his leg from the rest of his body. Ponretin's shard flies by Miyra's anti-tank shell and lands right in the center of Miyra's left shoulder bone. Miyra falls back in pain, dropping her anti-tank gun and holding her shoulder in agony.
Seeing Miyra drop to the ground from a nearly fatal wound is enough to make Raphael launch himself out of the tree he is in with his fist clenched tight. He is aiming himself straight towards Ponretin while screaming a battle cry. Ponretin hears him and devises a counter-attack.
Ponretin clenches his fists and pumps his arms back while screaming into the air in a last resort. Black flames suddenly burst up from the ground around him, shrouding him in dark fire. Raphael sees the fire coming and does a kinetic push with his free hand to clear himself out of the way of the flames.
Although Ponretin is no longer mobile, that does not mean that he is no longer a threat. Raphael knows this and runs around the circle of fire while Ponretin continues to fire shard after shard at him. Raphael is doing everything in his power to avoid the deadly rain of shards. Eventually, after avoiding five shards and running a half circle around Ponretin, Raphael stops himself in his tracks and lines both of his remaining shards up with Ponretin's back as Ponretin attempts to turn and face him.
Ponretin cannot turn fast enough. Raphael fires both of his shards into Ponretin's back, but the black fire that has enveloped him is too hot for the ice shards to come anywhere close to getting through the barrier of flames before melting into steam.
Raphael curses to himself as he dodges out of the way of another bolt. Raphael's options are becoming limited and he knows it. He doesn't have any kind of long-range weaponry with him and his ice shards can't get past Ponretin's fiery barrier. He also knows that there is no way for him to be able to melee attack Ponretin with his fire barrier up.
Raphael continues to dodge shard after shard as he attempts to think of some way to get himself out of this situation. As he runs circles around Ponretin, hoping that he would eventually run out of magic power, soldiers begin lining up down the street, their rifles aimed to kill.
Suddenly, while Raphael is avoiding shards, he hears more words in his head. The first set of words are the words that activate his icicle shard spell, but there is one word that comes afterward that signifies an extension of some sort for his spell. He chants the words for his icicle shard spell while still avoiding shards. Once his shards have been summoned, Raphael speaks the extension word. “Owp!” he speaks, making the icicles that were rotating around his hand suddenly form together, creating a massive icicle greatsword that fits perfectly into Raphael's two hands.
Before Ponretin can shot another shard at Raphael, he is hit with a flurry of bullets that follow a “fire!” order that comes from down the street. The rain of bullets are enough to knock away Ponretin's concentration and force him to lower his black fire barrier.
Once Raphael sees the shield wane from the zirconium-lead that has penetrated Ponretin's skin, Raphael leaps into the air above Ponretin using his enhanced strength and leg power. He flies into the air with his sword pointed towards the ground. With a great battle cry, Raphael flies downward and digs his icicle greatsword deep into Ponretin's skull.
The soldiers down near the intersection of the street stop firing as they see Raphael lunge his sword deep into the purple demon's head, all amazed by what they are now seeing.
Ponretin says nothing to Raphael as his body slowly is enveloped in pure ice, his bodily material changing inch by inch into crystallized water. The ice sluggishly spreads across his body, moving an inch a second from his horned skull all the way down to the clawed toes of his feet. The only thing to escape his black lips was a stuttered yelp that is slowly drowned out as his lungs freeze into ice.
Raphael lets out a sigh as the last of his enemy becomes petrified in ice, believing that the greatest enemy that he would ever face is now defeated, but little does he know that this is only the beginning of the great and fearsome enemies that he is destined to fight. He lets go of his frozen greatsword and drops down to the ground off of his now dead enemy. The six foot fall doesn't bother him in the slightest, since he is in his hero mode. His legs absorb the fall as if he had just jumped off of a foot-tall ledge into gelatin.
As he backs away from his enemy and looks down the street towards the intersection, his memory is suddenly jogged when he sees the soldiers huddled together in a pile. He almost forgot about Miyra. Raphael sprints down the street towards where he had last seen her, pushing aside soldier after soldier as he attempts to see if Miyra is still breathing.
Luckily, even though it looks like the shard has blasted apart her entire shoulder and blood is starting to pool on the ground, Miyra is still, indeed, alive despite her injuries. Unluckily, though, is that the shard that Ponretin had hit her with is still lodged in her shoulder. Raphael wonders as he looks down at her whether or not the nanobots can still heal her once the shard is removed.
“Raphael,” she pleads “you have to carry me back to the bunker. If you don't, there's no way that I can survive!”
Raphael goes to grab a hold of the shard, only to have his hand swatted away by Miyra. “Don't! The shard is too hot! You'll just burn your hand trying!”
Raphael stares at Miyra as she speaks. His pupils are spread wide open and are seemingly not even seeing Miyra. The reason for this is because he is having another painless vision, which is followed by words soon after.
“No I won't....” Raphael mutters the mystical words “Onrit Mon Cos” as he looks at his over-turned hand. After he finishes speaking the enchanted words, a mystical energy, similar in look to his azure barrier, forms around his hand, creating a skin-tight glove of energy that lets in air, but other than that, he can feel nothing else.
After Raphael casts the glove spell on his hand, he reaches his hand over to the black shard embedded in Miyra's shoulder. Ever so gently, he grasps the shard in his hand. With a sharp pull, he yanks the shard out of Miyra's shoulder and throws it to the side moments later.
Thanks to the nanobots moving through her bloodstream, Miyra's gaping shoulder wound heals shut moments after the wound is cleared of impediment.
Although her wound has now been healed, the nanobots she has at the time have a slight drawback. Whenever someone has their wound healed by the nanobots, the area of the new skin and muscle will remain sore and pained for the next few hours up to an entire day later.
Miyra grips her injured shoulder as she lifts herself into a sitting stance. “Raphael,” she exclaims, “I think you just saved my life. If you hadn't pulled that thing out of me, I think I might have bled out. Thank you so much.”
“It's just a part of my being, Miyra, there is no reason to thank me.” Raphael speaks while looking at Miyra's aching shoulder bone. “It seems like you're still a little injured. Are your nanobots strong enough to heal a wound like this?”
“No Raphael, the standard UMA nanobots aren't completely full-proof. The nanobots that me, you, and the rest of these soldiers,” Miyra points her head towards Raphael's house as she speaks. “whom should be heading back to the bunker since the battle is over, by-the-way, have heal whatever wound the body may receive, but there will still be a sharp, aching pain that remains after the wound is healed. This pain can persist anywhere from a few hours to a full day. Since my body metabolism is high and I'm a Taurus, I should be better by tomorrow morning.”
“You're a what now?” asks Raphael as the soldiers that were surrounding him moments ago file back into Raphael's house.
“I'll tell you about the Zodiac races later,” Miyra looks past Raphael towards the giant, one-legged frozen demon that was petrified in ice down the street, although it is a little difficult to make him out in the darkness that has started creeping into the neighborhood. “for right now, can you help me over to the hulking bastard you just took down? I want to see his mug up close before I go home to rest.”
Raphael gives Miyra a nod and offers her his hand. She quickly accepts and Raphael lifts her up. The two walk down the street, heading towards Ponretin's frozen corpse.
Once Miyra has reached Ponretin, she walks over to him and exclaims “Heh, you don't look so high and mighty now, now do ya!” before lifting up her fist and punching her hand through his frozen groin. His corpse wobbles for a moment and then falls backwards, shattering into a million icicles once his body touches the ground.
After Miyra has exacted her revenge for her earlier wound, Raphael starts to notice that people are staring at him and Miyra through the darkness. Soon after, Raphael starts hearing police sirens coming from down the road. Raphael knows that if people see him and Miyra, there will be trouble. He quickly grabs Miyra around her waist as she was punching the the shattered ice in fury. Miyra replies to Raphael's grabbing angrily. “Let me go!” she screams “I have to make him pay for what he did to me!”
Raphael shushes Miyra through the darkness, whispering to her less than a second later. “Miyra, people are watching and the police are going to be here in a few seconds. We need to leave, and we need to leave now!” Although Raphael can still see burning fury in Miyra's foggy eyes, stating that she wants to stay, Miyra gives Raphael a reluctant nod. The two of them then run back to Raphael's house, cutting through his neighbor's front yard as the lights from the police cars appear down the street.
Once Raphael and Miyra are back inside of the house, they are greeted by a cheering June. “That's my Guardian!” she cheers “I knew you guys could do it, but can you let me come next time? I want to fight beside you until the very end!”
Raphael chuckles to himself as June exclaims that she wants to fight. “Listen June, you more than proved yourself yesterday. You can fight by my side whenever you want to.”
As Raphael speaks to June, he notices Sherah appear from the den out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes are cold as she hears Raphael speak. “You want her to fight...” the tone of her voice is cold and covered with bewilderment. Her tone then changes from bewilderment to rage in a second. “What the hell, Guardian! You, of all people, should know how important June is! And now you're telling her that she can fight on the battlefield!? You're freaking insane! She's too important to be fighting on the front lines, she needs to stay back in the bunker while you and me guard her! What in the world is the matter with you!?”
“Sherah,” Raphael says, his voice now taking a serious tone. “you heard what June said yesterday and you never saw how well she fought during the battle of the Starlooper. She has a brave soul and is willing to fight for what she believes in! Besides, I can tell from yesterday, when she launched that Demu through my house, that she inherited some of my powers when I became the Guardian. She isn't the weak, defenseless little girl that she was before she came to my earth, as I can imagine that you remember her as, she's now powerful and she needs to hone her abilities on the battlefield if she wants to keep herself safe when we are....”
Before Raphael can finish speaking, Sherah walks over to him and slaps him across his face, leaving a large palm mark on his cheek. “You dumb-ass! No matter what you may think, you're still a little kid and so is she! The battlefield is no place for you or for her! But no matter what I think, you're the person that the God of Many has chosen as her protector, so I have no choice but to look over your cocky-ass bullshit until you grow the hell up and figure out that your strategies for defending June are baseless and completely stupid!”
“It doesn't matter what I think!” Raphael screams out at Sherah, no longer able to take her verbal abuse. “This is June's choice! I have no say in it, this is all her decision! I don't have any choice in what actions she wants to take! She can do whatever she wants, because she's a human-being! She isn't the Key! She's June Twara, and if you've forgotten that... then you aren't her protector anymore!”
Sherah at this point is overcome with anger. Not being able to keep it bottled up any longer, she balls her fist and reels it back behind her head, ready to strike down the person who has just disrespected her in such a way. Before she could fling her fist into Raphael's face, a powerful kinetic burst sends her flying into the wall of the living room to Raphael's right.
The person behind the blast is none other than June herself, who refuses to see Sherah hit her Guardian. Sherah looks back into June's fury-filled eyes, seeing no love for her remaining in them. At that moment, any strength that Sherah has remaining in her willpower is completely lowered, and what she dreads most has now come true...
“June....” she speaks, now struggling to catch her breath. She almost feels like crying because of what June has just done, but she holds herself back, not allowing herself to be seen weeping in front of a group of teenagers. As the only adult in the room, she knows that she needs to keep a strong posture, or she will be torn down by them.
Sherah rises to her feet, stomping over to June and grabbing her by her right wrist and pulling her off of the living room chair “We're going to bed, now!” She nearly has to drag June up the stairs and into Raphael's step-mother's bedroom, where in which they are staying for the night.
Throughout the entire time that this is going on, Miyra is simply standing in watch, completely amazed at what has just occurred. She walks over to Raphael while holding her aching shoulder. She places her hand on his shoulder and speaks to him confidently. “Don't worry Raphael, Sherah's just acting weird because...” Miyra's mind suddenly goes blank as she tries to draw up an answer for Sherah's actions that would ascend Raphael's hopes. She thinks to herself for a few seconds and then begins to speak again. “well, okay, I have some ideas for why she's acting like this, but I'm not sure which one's could be right.” Miyra points towards Raphael's upstairs bedroom. “My bedroom at the bunker is being put together right now, so I'm going to have to bunk with you for the night. Now come on, we both need some shut-eye after today's events.”
Raphael gives Miyra a false smile. He knows that something is happening to Sherah, and it is definitely not something good. He can sense some kind of evil presence coming from her, but it isn't her specifically. The Sherah that he is seeing isn't the normal Sherah. It is almost as if something is seriously bothering her, but what is it? Raphael has no idea what is making her so different than her normal self. Is it him? Or is it June's sudden rebellion? For that question, Raphael does not know....
Raphael gives Miyra a grunt of agreement before walking up the stairs to the second story and then up into his bedroom with Miyra following him step by step the entire way.
Raphael flips on the bedroom light as he walks into his bedroom. He stops at the doorway for a second, looking around the room to make sure everything is in order, and then continues into his room. Miyra walks in right behind him, still griping her shoulder.
“I'll take the bottom bunk, you can have the top.” says Raphael as he points to the top bunk of his bunk bed before sitting down on the bottom bunk.
“What? I can't get up there with my shoulder in this condition! I'm sorry Raphael, but you're going to have to take the top bunk.” proclaims Miyra as she attempts to move her sore arm, but to no avail.
“Um....” Raphael begins to stutter at Miyra's request. He has never slept on his top bunk before, and since there is no ladder and there isn't a railing on the side, Raphael doesn't want to sleep up there any time soon. “I... I don't think that that would work well for me, sorry....”
“Well, I guess we have no choice then. We're going to have to sleep in the same bed.” Miyra rubs her shoulder while walking towards Raphael's bunk bed.
Raphael is a little apprehensive about having someone else sleeping in the same bed as him. No one has slept in his bed with him before, so this makes him feel incredibly uneasy. No matter what he says, he knows that he won't dissuade Miyra's judgment, so he allows her to slip into his bed and move to the very back.
Once Raphael turns off the lights to his bedroom and lays down to bed, he starts to feel alright about the sleeping situation, although slightly uncomfortable.
He says nothing to Miyra as they both drift to sleep, both of them facing away from each other.
Thus the second day in Raphael's life as the Guardian has ended. Ponretin was just the first of the multiple monstrosities and demonic scourges that he will send back to hell over the course of his life. The foggy-eyed Miyra is to be the first of the twelve zodiac races that he would befriend, and Raphael's adventures in the simulation machines would continue well throughout his life.
Raphael goes to sleep happy, despite the bunking situation, knowing that now he has finally found a few people that he can truly call friends, and tomorrow, he will meet a few more.