Chapter 09A: The Battle Begins

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a purple sky. I am on top of what looks to be a skyscraper to some building. Both in front of me, and behind me is some kind of glass like thing blocking me.

"Yuichi-kun," A girl approaches me with support from her crutches.

"Shiori-sempai, just what on earth is going on?"

"I'll explain that," The girl named Stella suddenly appears in front of us from the other side of the glass like substance.

"YOU!" I run towards the girl but "Urgh!" I can't get past this glass like thing.

Bang Bang!! - I punch the transparent wall, but not even a scratch.

"It's pointless, those barriers are impenetrable," Stella says with a smile, "I transported you all to random locations, but it looks like the two of you got yourselves stuck somewhere between the six barriers."

"Six barriers?" Shiori-sempai asks.

"Well wait, I'm going to explain now." Stella states.

Suddenly a huge image of Stella appears in the sky.

"Good evening everyone. Now, before you all die, I figured it would only be polite to explain exactly what is happening." Stella says in a haughty tone as the huge image in the sky imitates the legit article in front of us. "You have all been sent into this replica of the very town you were in. In here we can each battle to our heart's content without any problems."

A list of names, including my own, appears in the sky in huge letters. "These are all the people whom have been sent into this dimension, including the members of Enigma," Stella explains.

Wait, what!? My eyes instantly notice some names I seriously did not want to see, please tell me I'm mistaken. I rub my eyes and hope I was wrong before, but they are still there in huge letters “Yuna Shiro”, “Sakura Kirei” and “Akane Mizuno”. SHIT!

"The filter that was in effect of who would be brought into this world is those who know about the existences of Human Anomalies. I guess this is what is known as knowing too much is bad for you." Stella says with a disgustingly refreshing smile on her face.

"However, be at ease," She says with a gentle tone in her voice, "I've ordered all the members of Enigma to kill everyone with extreme prejudice, so you won't be left out."

"STELLA!" I shout at the fucked up bitch in front of me. Yuna, Sakura, and Akane can't fight, they're no threat to them, but she has no intention of cutting them any slack.

"Oh, if you scream my name with such enthusiasm you're going to make me blush, Yuichi Shiro." She says as she holds her cheeks in her hands, well that is the curse of me being such an irresistible guy, wait, now isn't the time. I can admire my beauty in the mirror to my heart's content later. "Let them out of this screwed up world!" I shout.

"No can do, that would ruin the game." She replies with a twitch of her finger. "Now then, although your defeat is already certain, I'll explain how you win out of curtsey. If you can defeat me, then you win, it's that simple. The dimension will crumble, and you will return back to the original world. However, you cannot just come and attack me so easily. Surrounding me are six impenetrable barriers, each one corresponds to a member of Enigma. So for each member defeated, one of the barriers surrounding me will disappear. I think you get the picture. Oh, but it appears that Yuichi Shiro and Shiori Azusa's appearance on the battlefield will be delayed." The image in the sky switches over to me and Shiori-sempai, "They are trapped between the barriers surrounding me." Stella shows another cutesy smile, "You may not have one of your strongest fighters, but, do your best." The image disappears.

"DAMN IT!" I scream. My friends are going to be hunted by Enigma, and I'm stuck here!

"Yuichi-kun," Shiori-sempai says in a slightly worried voice. I try to give her my best reassuring smile I can, given the circumstances.

Chapter 09B: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Sakura)

What did that girl just say? They're going to attack everyone. Sempai is trapped, I'm on my own, what should I do? I can only recall the fear when we were attacked before by the Cannibalistic Ripper, and at that time I was with my Sempai, but not this time.

My hands shake uncontrollably, I can't make them stop.

"Well well, what do we have here?" My mind instantly blanks as I hear a terrible voice address me. I slowly turn my head to see the man standing there is none other the guy who attacked us before, the Cannibalistic Ripper, Kiri Sasu, "I've forgotten what a frightened little girl's liver tastes like, help me remember will ya. HA HA HA HA HA!"

Chapter 09C: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Yuna)

Onii-chan, just hearing that my brother who is someone who always inspired confidence has been reduced to little more than a trapped animal, has only increased my anxiety. The room I am in looks like a classroom from my school.

I have only two options available to me at the moment. Either hide and hope those guys who are after us won't find me. Or try and explore the area and pray I run into one of my friends who can keep me safe.

"Say Onee-chan, we found one..." A young girl says, I instinctively turn to its source. Standing there are two girls who look as if they have only just reached their teens. They look like twins, they have shoulder length hair that is black on one side and white on the other and is tied to the side. They are also wearing t-shirts and shorts that are black on one side and white on the left. The colour scheme is inverted for the other sister as is the side that her hair is tied to.

The two whom are holding each others hands, slowly pace towards me with slow steps.

"It's a shame, Ini-chan," The other girl says.

"Stella-neechan, told us to kill everyone who isn't part of Enigma." The younger girl continues.

It only sinks in when they said “kill.” I've gotta get away.

"Don't hate us for this, okay?"

"We promise to make this quick."

My feet instantly shoot for the door.

"Ah, she's running Onee-chan, what do we do?" The younger twin asks.

"We chase, Ini-chan."

Chapter 09D: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Akane)

Just how on Earth did this happen? Why did this happen? I had heard that girl's explanation, but I just can't believe it. This can only be a bad dream, yes, this is a nightmare.

Hurry up and wake up Akane. My body shivers in terror as I try to pinch my cheek for the dull pain to only confirm to me that this is indeed reality.

"Your luck..." I quickly turn to a man who is edging towards me. He is dressed like something akin to a casino dealer with a five card hand depicting those required for a royal straight flush embroidered on his clothes. "Has run out." He coldly says as he adjusts his glasses onto his face.

Suddenly six huge dices appear, three either side of the man, they are hovering whilst jiggling about. Then another thing appears above his head, it looks like some kind of large roulette. "Your loss however, is my gain."

Chapter 09E: The Battle Begins

Suddenly appearing in the sky is something I can only curse. A robotic like voice reverberates as a video appears overhead. "Sakura Kirei Vs Kiri Sasu!" I draw my attention to one of the videos which is depicting my cute kouhai running away from the man me and Ren failed to finish pounding before.

"Damn it!"

"Sakura-chan!" Shiori-sempai and I can only watch on in horror.

"Yuna Shiro Vs Gemini!" Oh no. Another video depicts my younger sister running away from two young girls who are happily chasing after her whilst holding hands.

"Shit!"

Bang Bang Bang Bang!! - I repeatedly force my bleeding fist into the barrier. What kind of friend or brother am I if I can't help them during their time of peril!?

"I told you it's useless, didn't I? You're only going to hurt your fist." Stella coldly states.

"Let me out of here STELLA!" I scream in anger. Even if you later fall in love me, I will never reciprocate a girl who tries to kill my friends!

Before I can voice my displeasure further, "Akane Mizuno Vs Slots!" Even Akane, how come all the non combatants ran into members of Enigma!? This isn't a joke I can even laugh about!

I can only watch from here as my friends run for their lives, these forcefields aren't going to let me out. Someone, anyone I can reward you with a date with yours truly, please save them.

"Yuichi-kun," Shiori-sempai calls out to me, whom has all but given up, "It's a long shot, but your technique, you decide the coordinates for the manifestation right? I'm sure someone will go to their aid, so buy them time."

Coordinates for manifestation? I see, it's going to take a lot of concentration on my part, but I'll definitely do it.

I turn my attention to the three videos, if this place is truly a replica of my town, then I know exactly where they are.

"My soul is one that is of self confidence."

Chapter 09F: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Sakura)

"I can't...go on..." I say to myself as I drag my legs, that feel like lead.

"Your already done?" The Cannibalistic Ripper says as he approaches me whilst licking the blade of his knife.

Even though I know it's useless, as the Cannibalistic Ripper's knife goes towards me, I can only do one thing, "Sempai...Yuichi-sempai!" As I scream as loud as I can, something I wasn't expecting suddenly happened.

"What the!?" Kiri shouts in astonishment, a huge quantity of silver blocks his knife from getting to me.

The silver quickly changes it's shape and shoots lots of small fragments at the astonished ripper. Sempai's power, but how?

"He manifested his silver here, and is controlling it all the way from the barrier!?" Kiri curses in shock as the silver cuts into his flesh.

"Sempai..." I wipe a tear from my eye in relief. Feeling Sempai's kindness through his silver gives my legs their second burst. I get back onto my feet and run as fast I can. The hope and courage Sempai is giving me, I won't waste a single drop of it.

"You won't escape!" He shouts as he throws his knives at me.

Ching ching ching ching! - The silver deflects many of the knives, but several have managed to bypass the silver. Sempai...

A huge fireball suddenly shoots forth and engulfs the remaining knives.

Ching ching ching!! - What the? Several knives I never noticed were deflected from my blind spot as well.

"You've truly angered me now," The back profile of a boy I see everyday gives me even more confidence than before.

"Nii-san..." I weakly call out.

"Attacking a defenceless girl comma I can't say it's a good hobby period" A young girl's voice chides as she seems to almost sprout out of the ground and walks to Nii-san's side.

Who is she?

"It looks like things have just gotten interesting. So now my opponents are the Human Anomaly who is marrying into the Cerberus family, Ren Kirei. And one of the churches' Slayers, the Soul Slayer that has gained it's own self conscience, Ley-Mistletoe." The Cannibalistic Ripper states with a wide smile that could almost split his face in half.

Chapter 09G: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Yuna)

I continue to run from the two girls as silver rains down on them, forcing them to constantly take evasive manoeuvres. I don't know how he is doing it, but this is definitely Onii-chan's doing.

"Onee-chan," The younger twin calls to her elder. The older twin holds her hands together in a certain stance. The younger twin places her feet on her hands, using it as a foothold.

"What on earth!?" I scream as the younger of the two flies over me and lands in front of me. The older twin threw her younger sister over and in front of me like some sort of circus acrobat.

"It's...", "...over." Like the twins they are, they finish each others sentences. They're right though, they've got me in a pincer.

Onii-chan's silver quickly tries to change its formation to deal with the new situation, But I can tell it won't make it in time.

The younger girl charges towards me as flames wrap around her right hand. But then, another metal appears in front of me and blocks the fire attack, it's not silver.

Crash! - A window to my side breaks, standing there on top of the broken glass is.

"Ichiyu?" I say in disbelief. He is wearing a huge sleeveless black coat that has several crucifixes forming the shape of a cross embroidered on the front.

"Carrisa-nee is going to really chide me for this. But personal business, before business business." Ichiyu says as he wears a confident smile, "Bronze Manifestation!"

Chapter 09H: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Akane)

"It appears your luck still persists." The man says as he dodges several silver javelins that pierce the ground where he previously stood.

I return to running away from the menacing man who seems to love using the word luck.

"Luck is what decides the fate for everything, those with the greater luck shall always stand on top." He claims as he gives chase whilst still avoiding the attacks. "Roulette!" The man shouts and the roulette that is hovering above his head starts spinning at a fast rate. "Dice!" One of the six dices decreases in size and shoots itself into the roulette as the roulette stops the dice reveals a value of four and has landed in a segment labelled “Fire” on the roulette.

Suddenly, a huge fireball shoots out from the roulette towards me. The silver tries to block the attack, but it can't stop it. "No, Help...me..." I can only pray as the scorching ball approaches me.

Boom! - Another fireball of roughly the same size collides with the one shot from the roulette, and they cancel each other out.

"Master, despite being trapped, still gritted his teeth to protect Mizuno-sama," Several light soft steps enter my ears, and their owner stands between me and my pursuer, "As Master's pet, it is my duty to ensure his wish of her safety is granted. I'll be your opponent four eyes!" The one who came to my rescue is Yuichi's pet, Wolfy.

"Very well, dog. Lets see how your luck holds up against Slots'," The man who just introduced himself as Slots challenges.

"Those who can only rely on luck, will always be doomed to fail," Wolfy returns the challenge.

Chapter 09I: The Battle Begins

"Fight updates!" The robotic voice states, "Akane Mizuno and Wolfy Shiro Vs Slots! Yuna Shiro and Ichiyu Weiss Vs Gemini! Sakura Kirei, Ren Kirei and Ley Vs Kiri Sasu!"

Thank god, the three who can't fight are now under the protection of someone who can. "But who is this Ichiyu Weiss?" He looks a bit like me, quite the handsome guy. Oh well, just please protect Yuna, your power looked similar to mine, so I'm sure you can.

"I've got to congratulate you for protecting your friends even though you are stuck here, Yuichi Shiro. It looks like the true battles are going to begin now." Stella says with a smile.

I swear I'll wipe that grin off your face personally.

"Bosch, Jijitsu and Phoebe Vs Ark!" The voice announces.

"Why the hell are three of the Slayers ganging up on a single opponent? Whilst my friends are fighting to protect those who don't have the power to protect themselves!?"

"Yuichi-kun..." Shiori-sempai says quietly.

"You should be thanking them, Yuichi Shiro," Stella says with an air of superiority, "Ark is the strongest fighter of Enigma, they'll need at least the three of them to even hope to survive, let alone win."

What, seriously? Just how strong is that guy then!?

Chapter 09J: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Elizabeth)

"Ren-sama!" I catch the announcement of him fighting that man, Kiri Sasu. I've got to go assist him. I humiliated myself last time, I must wash myself clean of this disgrace. Someone from the Cerberus family cannot allow herself to be seen in such a way by anyone, let alone her fiancé. And also, what if that Ley girl steals a march on me? Ren-sama is such a great man it would only be natural for her to fall for him.

"GRRR! It's obvious for you to have concubines, being such a great man and all. But I won't allow it until my position is set in stone!!” Yes, we have yet to even go on a proper date. Ren-sama has agreed to marry me, but our relationship is still in the early stages. If I allow other girls near him before we build a strong foundation I could end up having the rug pulled from under me.

"A maiden in love is truly frightening." A girl in her mid teens jumps out in front of me and snaps me out of my deep thought. She has short dyed dark hair with heavy eye liner and make up on. She is wearing a long scarf that covers her neck and cascades down her back, her small dark shirt reveals her pierced belly and a pair of short shorts fastened with a belt reveals her long legs. "If I kill you, I'm sure Stella will show me her beautiful smile. Therefore, for this Cammy's sake, can you please die? I want Stella to praise me."

"I have no interest in your yuri fantasies. I will remove all those who stain my family's name or get in the way of my love life." I declare as I point my scythe's blade at the Goth looking girl named Cammy.

Chapter 09K: The Battle Begins (Perspective: Alma)

Where am I? I could have sworn I walked past that tree just a few minutes ago. Oh well, I can only march forward. I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

"Tracking you was really difficult, Alma Ivana." See, I've already found someone. I turn to the voice, wait you're. "By the time my location technique pinpoints you, you're already somewhere completely different. Even I couldn't see through your movement route."

"Carrisa Thanatos!" I point the spear segment of Gungnir-Mjölnir at the rogue reaper, whom is also one of the culprits for the birth of Enigma.

"It looks like Ichiyu has gone off to fulfil his own desire, I'll deal with him later," Carrisa says to herself before glaring at me, "By the orders of my master, I shall be taking custody of Gungnir-Mjölnir, hand it over, Alma Ivana!"

"Who are you to give me orders, you who abandoned your duties and obligations to help such a screwed up man!?" I scream back.

"And who are you to talk as if you know everything?" Carrisa's eyes glow a dangerous colour, "Very well, let's do this the hard way."

"Carrisa!" A voice shouts from behind her. Carrisa doesn't even bother to turn around.

"Alicia, I had hoped you would have been smarter than to confront me again directly." Carrisa reprimands in a cold voice.

"I cannot allow you to fall any lower, as both an old friend and as a rival, I will stop you, Carrisa!" Alicia shouts as she draws her scythe.

"Very well, I will fight you both at once. I'll show you the gap between us is even greater than that of the cosmos." Carrisa says as she gets into a stance with her scythe.

Chapter 09L: The Battle Begins

"Elizabeth Cerberus Vs Cammy Leon! Alicia Pandemonium and Alma Ivana Vs Carrisa Thanatos!" The voice states.

"Shit, Carrisa!" Even if Alicia and Alma double team her, can they win? All of you, be careful. If only I could get out there myself.

Unfortunately, I'm not even able to maintain the long ranged control of my silver for long. And the fact I was having to do so for three different battles in three different locations was equally taxing on me. My legs give out from under me, I'm exhausted, the stress of my friends being in danger, the mind grinding task of using my silver in such a forced manner.

"Yuichi-kun," Shiori-sempai sits next to me, "You've done what you can, lets trust in everyone. If the barriers holding us here disappear, we'll be able to join the fray. So for now, whilst we can't do anything, rest. Yuichi-kun's power will definitely be needed again soon."

"You sure are hopeful aren't you? Let's see how things actually go shall we? I'm sure you'll soon see the situation for how hopeless for you it truly is." Stella states without losing her smile.

I really cannot stand this bitch, nor her gloating.