Episode 01: Lecture On Darkness

Kotaro walked into his semi-filled classroom and silently found his seat in front of Keisuke. He ignored Saito's fierce glare which fixed on him from the corner of the room.

Mutsuroku Academy, a school located on an artificial island that is designed to train Vampiress and their Blood Warriors on how to fight the Darkness. Its entire student body was made up of girls who had become Vampiresses, their Blood Warriors, or fledgling Blood Warriors, normal humans who had yet to be bonded to a Vampiress.

“You actually decided to turn up,” Keisuke remarked. Kotaro shrugged his shoulders indifferently. “Nora was peeved that you ditched the afternoon classes even after she asked you to come.”

“A model classrep,” Kotaro replied dryly holding his head in his hand. He wasn't what you would call a morning person.

Bang!! - Nora slammed on a nearby table as she briskly walked to the duo. “Well!? If you have an excuse, now is your chance to voice it,” she said with her hands against her hips, her red eyes pierced into the skiver.

“I couldn't be bothered.” He stated plainly.

“KO-TA-RO-!!” The usually kind Vampiress now had the visage of a demon. All the students in the room quickly retreated.

This isn't good, Nora looks like she's out for blood. Best change the subject. Kotaro thought to himself.

“Nora, are you aware that Saito has been downloading gigabytes of pornography?” Saito glared strongly from hearing his name come up in a negative light.

“Yes I am!! He edits my face onto them and uses them for...!!” She began before blushing after noticing the contents of her words.

Bang!! - Saito falls off his chair. Everyone in the room stared at Saito's humiliated red face whilst whispering amongst themselves. “NORA!!” He shouted as he gets back to his feet and silences the whispers with an angry glare. Nora rushed to his side with a flushed face.

Safe. Well, that worked better than I expected. You can consider this my revenge for what you said yesterday, Saito.

Kotaro wipes his sweat as he returns Saito's evil glare and mouths a silent sentence to secure the last nail in the coffin. Email me the pics later. Saito responds with his middle finger. “Tch, stingy,” Kotaro shrugged before resting his head in his arms on his desk, the sudden scare and relief tired him.

“All right class, settle down,” called out the teacher as she entered the room. The teacher was a young woman with long straight crimson hair and red eyes. She was dressed in a casual suit with a pale pink skirt, and was the same age as her students. Due to her high intellect she joined the school as a teacher rather than a student when she became a Vampiress. All the students immediately accepted this, being from the same generation as them and her kind demeanor made her very approachable. “Ah, Kotaro-kun you're feeling better now? Sensei's glad.” She said with a smile.

Kotaro raised his hand in acknowledgement, “I wouldn't dream of missing a lesson from Makoto-sensei.” The class all glared at Kotaro who's words were bordering flirtatious, if there was one thing Kotaro was good at, it was complimenting girls. It was hard to believe that this was the same boy who was so depressed the previous day. Kotaro was the type of boy who didn't like to show his emotions in company. Therefore, as long as he wasn't alone, he was no different from any other teenage boy.

“Te-he-he, Sensei's embarrassed.” Makoto-sensei stated as she rubbed the back of her head with a slight blush whilst taking her place at the front of the class. “Now then, let us review.”

The interactive board at the front of the class activated and displayed an image of a dark creature that looked like a large deformed rabbit standing on its hind legs. “This is a typical Darkness, what rank does this Darkness fall into, Keisuke-kun?”

“Yes, it's the lowest ranked Darkness, a Yami.” Keisuke answered confidently.

“Bravo,” Makoto-sensei congratulates, “This is the most common type of Yami, their nucleus is located at the centre of their body, however for such small fry you don't need to know this.” Makoto-sensei slowly eyed out the person to torture with her next question. “Akira Saito-kun, please name all the ranks that we use to associate the Darkness.”

Saito scoffs slightly as he gets to his feet. “From the lowest to highest Yami, Fiend, Lower Maou, Mid Maou, High Maou, and Overlord. The higher the rank, the scarcer the numbers,” Saito answers with a little trivia thrown on top.

“Correct,” Makoto-sensei nods with a smile, “The Darkness attack humans indiscriminately. In addition, from Fiend class upwards regular weapons are useless. Only Vampiresses and Blood Warriors have the power to kill them. Nora-san, imagine you were stuck inside a herd of Darkness, to get rid of them what would be the first thing you would do?”

“I would try and find their leader.”

“Another good answer, Sensei's happy she has such great students,” Makoto-sensei smiled widely, “Whenever there is a huge outbreak of Yami you can be sure that there is a higher tiered Darkness, nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand, a Fiend, controlling them. If you defeat the leader, all the other Darkness will retreat back to Shade.”

“Makoto-sensei, why do Darkness retreat when they lose their leader?” A student asks.

“Hm, there is a lot we still don't know about the Darkness so this is just Sensei's opinion. But say Kotaro-kun and Akira Saito-kun were killed by a Darkness, would you run up and attack it?”

The entire class except for the two hypothetically deceased shake their heads. “Exactly, you'd instinctively think there is no way you can beat them. The leader is always the strongest Darkness, so beat them and the rest flee.”

Beep beep! - A noise came from the PA system before a woman's voice stated, “Attention please, this is a teacher announcement, please report to the assembly hall. All students are to remain in class until further notice.”

Makoto-sensei's red eyes turn serious from the announcement. What could that be about, did something happen? She thought. “Okay everyone, you heard the announcement, so please self study until I get back,” she said with a curt smile as she exits the classroom.

“HAAHH!!” A young man swung his Blood Weapon, a huge axe, dispersing countless Yami. But for every one destroyed another two took its place. “Liza, can you find their leader!!” He shouted to his Vampiress whilst repelling another wave.

“There's a Fiend about one kilometre north-west.” She replied whilst staring at their target through a pair of binoculars.

“All right!!” He shouted as he slammed his axe into the ground scattering the icy floor and clearing a path for him and his Vampiress to swiftly run through. “The town guard should be able to handle the Yami.” He reasoned to himself as he continued across the slippery surface. If the leader isn't defeated the assault would never end, and he and his partner were the only ones capable of doing so at the moment. Yami could be killed by conventional weapons, but Fiend class upwards can only be killed by V-Magic or Blood Weapons.

The duo eventually came across a wolf like Darkness that was emitting a black aura. “AWOOOO!!” It howled before charging at the man, who quickly blocked with his axe and pushed it back.

The Wolf Fiend suddenly multiplied and charged at the man again. “Get down!!” His Vampiress ordered, the man does as requested and a long line of lightning slashes horizontally dispersing all but one of the Wolfs, that jumped back to safety.

“AWOOOO!!” It howled again as a dark sphere formed in front of its open mouth. The man readied his axe for the attack. The Wolf Fiend shot the dark ball, that flew at an incredible speed.

“HAHHH!!” The man sliced the ball in half with his Blood Weapon.

“Move!!” His Vampiress shouted as she released an orb of her own made of lightning.

“AWOOOO!!” The wolf howled in pain when struck by the V-Magic, the man used the opening and sliced his axe into the centre of the wolf's body.

The wolf dispersed into a black mist that quickly dissolved into the air.

“Another job well done, Liza,” The man remarked as he turned to his partner only to be met with a view that shocked his eyes. “Why are the Yami still here!?” They had defeated the Fiend so the Yami should have fled.

Bang bang!! - Several huge trees toppled over as a colossal dark body stamped out of its dense cover. The duo stared at the large Darkness in fear as it edged closer and closer.

“A Lower Maou,” The Vampiress whispered in horror at the opponent that was clearly too strong for the duo.

“Ahhh~ they only made it as far as the second to last boss, such a SHAME.” Remarked a man in his late teens dressed in an open black shirt and baggy trousers secured with a belt around the waist and two each around his ankles. His short spiky hair was as pure as the fallen snow and his blue eyes were clearer than the sky.

The man had sat and watched the Blood Warrior and Vampiress duo get engulfed by the Lower Maou's Dark Beam as if he was watching a TV show. The man hummed to himself as he plucked his big string instrument with his bow. The Lower Maou continued towards the powerless town along with an immense number of Yami, and even a few Fiends.

“Another easy win for Judgement's Orchestra,” He stated as the Lower Maou unleashed another Dark Beam, this time upon the town. Everything that was hit disappeared instantly.

Before long the town was scrubbed off the map.

“How are things going over there, Cello?” A voice asked within the young man's head.

[Ah, Conductor-sama. All the resistance was destroyed by one of my Lower Maous. I didn't get to make an appearance today either.] The young man known as Cello replied in his head. [But observing did give me enough inspiration for a new music piece, I'm going to call it “Victory To Despair I”]

“Ha-ha-ha, I look forward to hearing it, as well as all its subsequent sequels, Cello,” The Conductor replied.

[I just hope I can take to the stage personally next time. Watching from the audience can only entertain me so much. Maybe I should have tagged along with Flute.] Cello lamented childishly.

“Then how about a change of rhythm? I was hoping you would go to Mutsuroku Island for me.”

Cello smiled widely as he increased the speed of the bow on his string instrument that his alias came from. [PERFECT!!] His excitement wasn't containable.