Onwards to The Final Showdown

Kuro and Hinako arrived at a small house with a fence. The gate was knocked out its hinges and the path towards the house was littered with bodies. All of them wore MDF uniforms.

“Are we to late?”, Hinako murmured behind Kuro.

“Nah…”, He replied.

Kuro took a step into the property but stopped moving immediately.

“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”, Hinako asked.

Kuro slowly put up his arms

“It’s me! Don’t shoot!”, He yelled, seemingly to an empty house.

“Proof it! What were the first words I said to you, after I introduced myself?” Yamada’s voices echoed over the property coming from multiple places simultaneously, making it impossible to pinpoint her location.

Kuro smiled and looked up at the chimney.

“Fuck me, you look like you could use a cold beer. I know a good place!”, He yelled his answer. “What was inside the box at my place?”

“Which one?”

“The not fun one…”

“Letters, a photo and a glowstick armband.”

Kuro put down his arms and relaxed. Yamada appeared next to the chimney and nodded towards them. Then she jumped down with a flip and softly stuck the landing.

“Good to see you Otaku.”, Yamada said coming up to Kuro and extending her arm.

“You as well Sniper. I could really use a cold beer right now as well… we should go to that place again sometime…” He replied, grabbed her forearm and shook it.

“Later, there is work to be done.”

“I see you already started.”

He pointed at the bodies lying around them.

“Yeah… Some of which I had known for years…. What the hell is going on? It’s complete chaos out there…”

“Can we go inside first?”

“Yeah come in.”

Yamada turned to Hinako.

“Good to see you too.”, She said and nodded towards her.

Hina gave her a nod back and then they went inside.

“Any news, Leaf?”, Yamada asked as they entered the house.

A petit woman furiously typing on a laptop on the couch looked up.

“Blaze is still holding down the safe house in Shibuya, with his team. Droplet arrived in the headquarters and is currently engaged in combat with some of them. Gale is currently on its way here with all that is left of her squad. They were hit pretty hard… Didn’t get through to Spark, Hurricane or Blossom yet… Oh, hi Otaku!”, she reported.

“Hi, Leaf.”, Kuro said and nodded at her.

Yamada sat down on the couch as well and looked at the laptop.

“Good… let me know when something new happens. In the meantime,… Otaku… You know what the hell is going on and why we are suddenly fighting in our own ranks?”

Kuro reported what had happened to him and Hinako and what they had found out.

“Fuck… so the Grandmaster is really dead… I feared that it was the case, since we could not get in touch with the hospital… How are you holding up? I know you two were close…”, Yamada asked and looked at Kuro with empathy.

“The time for grief will come later… right now I my only priority is exterminating this cult and everything related to it.”, He answered with glowing eyes.

“Good. We could really use our hardest hitter right now… So, Yukiko was behind all that… that fucking bitch! I can’t believe she fooled us all… I kinda wish you hadn’t already disintegrated her, so I could choke the living shit out of that whore myself…”

“So, what now?”

“Well, if that bitch and her imbecile cultists want a fight, they can have one. I do not plan to just roll over and let them have the city, or more. I hope I can count on your assistance?”

“Point me in the direction and I will go until you say stop.”

“Good… What about her? Is she up to the task? Or should she stick to running support?”

Yamada pointed at Hinako. Kuro looked at her appraisingly. Hinako grew slightly nervous as the two older mages just stared at her for a while.

“She has what it takes to handle herself in a fight. It’s up to her if she wants to join.”, Kuro said and nodded.

Yamada nodded as well and went to Hinako.

“You heard the Otaku. What do you say? You in for the fight or want to hang back running support… or none at all. Think good about your answer. There is absolutely no shame in any of those choices, and everyone here will respect whatever you choose. I won’t sugar coat it. There WILL be death on BOTH sides… Ours and theirs.”, She said and looked her in the eyes.

“I’m in!”, Hinako said without much hesitation.

Yamada noticed the fire in her eyes and grinned.

“Then welcome to the Special Forces, Inferno. Let’s do our best that the majority of deaths will be on their side.”, She solemnly said and extended her arm.

Hinako grabbed her forearm and shook it.

“Update! Spark and Hurricane pinned down at Tokyo tower and under heavy fire. Requesting relief. Blossom at Roppongi station, cleared.”, Leaf reported.

“Send Blossom immediately to them to help out!”, Yamada ordered.

“Somebody is coming… I’ll go and check it out.”, Kuro said.

Yamada nodded and he went out.

“Any news from Droplet? How is the headquarters looking? We could really use the armoury…”, Yamada asked.

“They are still stuck fighting. But they have the upper hand. Should get clear in the next fifteen minutes.”, Leaf replied furiously typing on her laptop.

“What about Boulder? Has he any updates?”

“Still searching for survivors at the dorms. Currently 20 heads strong. Mostly Adepts though.”

“Good… better than nothing. Tell him to meet up with droplet as soon as she gives the clear in HQ!”

“Roger!”

“Anything from one of out medic squads?”

“No… Oh, correcting! Got a ping from Mycleia and Fungi. They are near the Hospital apparently, they took in all the medical personnel that could flee. Currently stuck treating wounded, requesting defense support, but immediate threat in sight.

“Tell them they have to hang tight for now.”

Kuro came back in with a tall woman with green hair following him. Behind her were two men, lacerations all over their bodies and faces.

“Gale! Good to see you made it through!”, Yamada said with a bit of relief.

“Barely, Sniper… you have some first aid kits lying around? We lost our medic and those two will bleed out soon enough.”, Gale asked.

“Yeah in the kitchen.”

“Thanks.”

“Found them!”, Leaf reported exited.

“Where?”, Yamada asked immediately.

“Right between Akihabara and Okachimachi station… Fuck this does not look good…”

Leaf turned her laptop around so all could see. Right in the middle of a big intersection was a huge crimson cocoon like thing floating above ground. It was at least twenty meters tall. Around it were seven ruptures like the one in Hakone. Demons started to pour out of them. Under the cocoon was a huge pile of bodies. Humans could be seen dragging others onto the pile and stabbing them. A stream like a reverse waterfall went up from the pile and into the cocoon. A lot of the humans there had MDF uniforms, others had black robes. The dead bodies on the pile were mostly in civilian clothing.

“Fuck is that…”, Yamada exclaimed.

“A gate of an archdemon … when they finish the feeding process is ready, which it’s about to be then it will begin it’s opening process...”, Kuro explained.

“How long will that take?”

“Hm, hard to know, but my guess would be around two to three hours…”

“Can it be stopped?”

“Not anymore…”

Right before Kuro said the the bloody waterfall stopped and the cocoon began turning blackish.

“So our only option is to fight what comes out of it? If my memory serves correctly only one archdemon can use a gate before it looses its power and vanishes”, said Yamada.

“That’s correct.” Kuro replied.

“Okay So we now have two to three hours window until the big fucker shows up… Otaku… you’re the only one here to ever go up against an archdemon… how would you approach fighting it?”

“Let me fight it alone…”

“What? You wanna hog all the glory again, Otaku?”, Gale interjected.

“Silence!... What is your reason for suggesting that?”, Yamada continued.

“I would need to fight it… at my full force…”, Kuro explained hesitantly.

“Which means any of us would be in the way?”

“Yeah…”

“What the?! You think that lowly of us, Otaku?”, Gale interjected again.

“Its the truth…”, Kuro said.

“Fuck you! I hate your fucking arrogant ways! You think we are freshly hatched academy adepts with no fight experience? We can handle ourselves.”

“Shut up, Gale, or you will be stuck on support duty!”, Yamada reprimanded her.

“Since when do you take the Otaku’s side, Sniper? You trust him that much?”, Gale asked.

“When it comes to demon killing then yes, I do. I know that you watched him fight demons already and I know that you must have noticed that he has only shown a fraction of his true power. So, swallow your fucking ego and take a step back, when ordered to! The Grandmaster is dead, which means I take control of all operations! If you don’t trust him, then trust me! Have I ever failed you as a ground commander?”

“I… okay… what ever you say, Sniper. Lead us to victory or death. I’m with you all the way.”

“Then let’s make sure this will be a victory. Leaf! Tell every available personnel to rendezvous at Akihabara station, we will set up a temporary command there.”

“On it, Sniper!”, Leaf confirmed.

“Good the plan will be as followed. Until that Gate opens and the big daddy shows its ugly mug, we will whitle down the cultist and demons, closing as many of the ruptures as possible. Optimally we will close all of them before the gate opens. When it does, everybody will fall back in a three-kilometer radius and we will erect a protective barrier around that perimeter with all that we got, boxing the archdemon and anything that may be left in with the Otaku, preventing anything from escaping, while he will deal with that fucker. Are you up for that, Otaku.”

“Yes, Sniper.”

“Good then we all get ready and drive to Akihabara station. Otaku, you’ll go on ahead and start softening them up. We others will follow with the APC shortly, all understood?”

“Aye!”, Everyone said in agreement.

“Oh, and Otaku…”, Yamada continued and turned towards Kuro.

“Yeah?”

“You have my permission to break as much stuff as you need, no holding back because of collateral damage… make me regret that decision, when the dust has settled!”

“AYE!”

Kuro grinned and went outside first. The rest gathered all their stuff and went to the garage to get into the parked APC.