The Frontal Assault

The Lunastray guild manor stood before me, the mystical silver light of the waned crescent moon, partnered with the flickering gold light of the fireflies perfectly illuminated the mansion's immaculate landscape, from its symmetrical trimmed grass to the perfectly maintained perimeter of trees that surrounded the ten acres of land the manor occupied.

Meanwhile I and the rest of Team Okami, were scouting the manor that was way too good looking for an assassin guild.

Actually, to be exact we were all waiting on Toan to distract Krim, after which we would begin the front assault and Toan would single Team Sieg in ten minutes to begin their assault.

At least that's what I got out of the explanation.

Toan stood in the middle of a vast clearing in front of the manor, all of our eyes each trained directly on him.

 "Hey!" He shouted in a booming voice, quite literally.

 "Krim! You remember that time you beat me? Yeah, me neither?" 

 Sure, enough Krim answered Toan's taunt with a look of fury in his eyes.

 "You only won because you jumped me before I could apply my Cloak of Light. It won't happen again." He said as he grit his teeth together in annoyance.

Toan interrupted Krim by (very maturely) itching his rear then sniffing his finger simply to annoy him.

 "Oh shit, you were talking. I'm sorry all I heard was loser talk, a winner like me can't understand that language. Not that you'd know of course." 

 Toan's cheap jabs at Krim's already fractured pride worked wonder in drawing out his ire.

Soon the two dashed away to the Graveyard of the Chimera just as planned.

That Signaled the beginning of our assault, we would have ten minutes to distract the Lunastray forces so Team Sieg could successfully infiltrate the manor.

********

Contrary to popular belief we didn't actually charge forth with a roaring battle cry.

Instead, we emerged from the forest in such a bulk that I couldn't even see my friends from Draconum Familia. But that didn't mean I couldn't tell they were just as excited as me.

As we begun closing in on the mansion, circles made of dark magic started to form in abundance.

"Those circles...everyone, stay your ground, those are Shadow Transportation Circles. Judging by the number of them, we aren't gonna have the number advantage anymore." Shade spoke as he extended his arm to block Okami from proceeding closer as his eyes remained perfectly trained on the circles.

Shadowy figures emerged from the circles as they slowly took shape as Smilers armed with their signature tri-bladed weaponry.

Lightning crackled between my eager fingertips as I closed my hand into a fist. 

"Let's do this!" 

Many Sages and Mages used magical weapons like Aceil's Tanabo, these weapons would allow the user to channel their Ether into them enhancing the armament with whatever affinity the user manipulated with their spells.

Lightning Sage=Lightning enhanced weapon.

Even those magical weapons which should've been stronger than any metal, were only able to match the ferocity of the Smilers own weaponry filling the cool night air with the sounds of clashing steel.

However, I personally didn't use a weapon and so I wasn't really at any disadvantage or at least not a new disadvantage.

Even the Smiler grunts were no pushovers, I was very fortunate to have learned Lightning Cloak before while I still couldn't maintain it for long, I was able to activate it in burst along with Light Show and my new double strike method I titled Strike and Burst. Where I would strike my opponent without activating my Ether then channel a burst of it into them. 

It was equivalent to comparing a punch to a push, when I used Strike and Burst my Ether would be able to build more momentum so to speak, as opposed to simply punching with an Ether infused fist.

Essentially my technique went like, I would use Lightning Cloak to enhance my spells and give me the properties of lightning, then I'd use Light Show to throw my opponent off before striking them with an already enhanced blow before surging even more Ether into it performing a Strike and Burst spell.

The combo made short work of most foes I fought, but it was incredibly taxing, and so I had to use it sparingly.

Somehow, I ended up back-to-back with Aceil.

"Heh, need help bone skull?" I asked in a teasing voice as I managed to catch a tri-bladed spear which I proceeded to surge lightning through charring its wielder.

"You serious? I'm just getting started." Aceil replied as he swung his Tanabo at a Smiler with enough force to break every bone in his body. "Why? You gettin' tired?"

"Please, it's like you said, we just got started."

With that we quickly dashed away from each other and continued the fight.

********

"This is way more fun then it should be." Jex spoke as he too fought in the battle, before him was four charred corpses.

"You always were twisted."

Simply hearing that man's voice was enough to cause Jex to send a Flame Sphere at his direction.

Yet the ball of fire was extinguished with a loud hiss as it dispersed against a wall of water.

"Come on Jex, you can't kill your demons if you aren't facing them." The voice continued.

"How! How are you alive? I thought I killed you." Jex exclaimed as he snapped to his opponent.

The man was wrapped head to toe in thick dirty bandage, only his bright blue eyes were shown.

"Kinda ironic, isn't it? I actually have an affinity for water magic." He said as he burst into laughter.

"You're open!" A member of Specialty Maid shouted as she lunged at the man with her spear pointed at him.

"Wait!" Jex warned.

 Yet he was too late. The man had impaled the girl right through her chest with a blade of water.

Even through his bandage Jex could see a wicked smile creep upon the man's face.

"See, I'm pretty good at it. Imagine if I could do this on that day. Perhaps I'd be the one quivering before you. But then, you wouldn't have survived me, and you still won't." 

Jex's legs shook uncontrollably as he backed up in fear before falling to the ground.

'That voice, those eyes. It can't be him.'

"I still remember our promise you know. The one we made when we joined the Smilers together. We promised to stick together till the end, we were both broken and only had each other. The Immortal Queen took both of our families. I understand your hatred for her. But I thought you would've hesitated at least. Perhaps the instructors were joking, maybe it was a test to see what we were capable of. maybe you didn't have to kill me."

"Leo...I"

"Didn't even give me a chance." The man roared as he dashed to Jex, the pungent stench of burnt flesh pouring off him.

"You burnt me to death! I could feel my skin fusing to my clothes! I could taste my own melted tongue! I died! But my hatred and sense of betrayal revived me, I live solely so I can kill you Jex Fortuna. And with my water magic you can't stop me!" 

Once again Leo broke out in a violent laughing snapping his head up to the midnight sky.

Jex stumbled to his feet and brushed off his suit.

"I'm sorry Leo. There is no excuse. I killed you, my closest friend, my brother. I did so simply because I was told to. Maybe I could've spared you, but I didn't care. I won't say that you haven't earned the right to kill me. But I won't just let you do so without a fight." He said as he conjured gauntlets of fire over both fists along with a pair of flame greaves and sabatons.

Leo's eyes fell back down to meet Jex's as he maintained a devilish smile.

"I'd expect nothing less from a scumbag like you. You're gonna beg for me to kill you, just like I did."

********

 "Nikolos Frost. You have summoned the Council of Exorcists. Do not waste their time."

Back in Drasil, Niko stood in a large circler marble room, in it was seven pedestals on each of which a cloaked figure stood.

Or rather the mind of one did, the Exorcists that ruled the entirety of The Orochi Isles were far too busy to show up physically and so they used a spell to project their consciousness into the room Nikolos occupied.

"That is not my intention. I'm guessing you've already been informed of the Smilers." Niko said getting straight to the point.

"Of course, we have. Did you forget about our infamous intelligence agency? The Grigori earned their reputation through hard work and feats. If that's all you have to say this has been a waste of time." An Exorcist spoke in a voice belonging to a young boy.

"Let's hear him out Exorcist Nenji." The gentle motherly voice of Exorcist Piro spoke.

"Thank you Piro," Niko replied after which he saw the illusionary form of the Exorcist blush. "She's right, this isn't about the Smilers, not directly at least. It's about Robius. Or more accurately Rukurai." 

The council looked to one another in a way that always bothered Nikolos. 

They began whispering amongst each other like a bunch of school kids.

"What is he gonna say?"

"Is it serious?

"I don't know."

"Could be serious."

"Probably a joke."

"He wouldn't joke like that."

"Relax, let's just wait and see."

Niko loudly cleared his throat to regain the council's attention.

"You guys are even more annoying then those two." Niko said referring of course to the two guild mistresses that were always pestering him.

"Robius is involved in the battle, I worry about him slipping up, if he lets his emotions get the better of him, he may weaken the seal, I can say for certain that it will not break completely. But even a fraction of Rukurai's power is dangerous."

"I see. And if you simply forbid him from fighting, he would get suspicious." The child Exorcist Nenji admitted even though he was obviously not Niko's biggest fan. "We have no choice but to wait it out. If it gets out of hand, we'll just have to reseal Rukurai within another vessel. Of course, doing so will kill the kid."

The Council of Exorcists sat in a silent agreement the subject wasn't a happy one, but the fate of The Orochi Isles was on the line.

And so there was only one choice.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."