Start Again?
Chapter 1: WHAT THE-
It is the evening of 15th, December 4000. The air trembles as a new foe approaches.
"Devil zemorpths overhead," says an anonymous stern voice over comms, "Alright, 101 squadron, show me what you have in you."
The devils are attacking District B of the city of Sangantum with sheer tenacity. The voice speaks over comms again, this time with an unsettling insanity kind of tone behind it, "Now, go...GO I SAID! Eviscerate them all! Put the pedal to the mettle! Don't disappoint me 101 squadron."
The 101 squadron is brought to bear. The atmosphere, dark and gloomy...lightens up with a hell of lead and deafening noise from lightning strikes.
"AH-HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHHHAAAAAAAAAA," the voice picks up over the comms again, "That's it, that's what I love to see, TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB!!!!!"
The battle is over. Hades looks over a hard won fight from the roof top of a torn down skyscraper. The air around him, as if becomes stale, "This is just the beginning," he says.
Planet Earth: 15th January, 2025
It is a cold calm night in Shibuya, Japan. Yoshida just left the gaming store, "Just got me the latest edition of God Souls, let's freaking GOOO!" The ecstatic Yoshida proceeds to make his way back to his house, from there, he boots up his video game. He reads the labels on the game and they look a bit off.
"Reality edition? Sounds sketchy, but cool nonetheless." Clearly unphased, he boots it up anyway. It displays on the screen, "You are about to be immersed into an experience like no other, do you wish to continue?" Yoshida agrees and clicks on yes. Within an instant, a portal is opened up and he is sucked in and teleported into the video game's world.
The immediate teleportation gives him no time to process what is happening. Within the portal, it looks as if he is travelling through time and space with no end in sight, then he is spit out on the other end of the portal. Yoshida is confused on his new surroundings. He freaks out a bit, even screaming and scratching his face until he thinks to himself,
"Hey, I might be in some sort of Isekai. I might be on a mission to take down the demon lord." There is also a sword right beside him as if gifted to him from someone else.
Although, he is still perplexed as he has no clue where he could be. Yoshida decides to look for any people or even physical life forms around. He wanders for sometime. Everywhere around him is just open plains for a while until he spots a city as it approaches night time. Between him and the city is a forest.
This forest isn't like a typical one. It gives a sense of looming threatening danger, like a snake squeezing your neck. Yoshida takes the risk anyway and enters the forest. It's almost quiet, too quiet in fact. The only creatures making sounds are the bugs. As he etches ever deeper into the forest, the signs on the trees read,
"Danger, only experienced devil hunters allowed." It makes Yoshida use his natural instinct and he decides turn around and find another path. The looming danger fills the air, Yoshida feels that he has screwed up. A giant demonic four-eyed dog has just appeared. Yoshida draws his sword, clearly frightened and shaking, he throws it at the beast and...misses in quite the self embarrassing moment for himself.
He spontaneously pisses his pants and books it out of there. The demonic presence makes him tremble as he sprints. The adrenaline rush makes him a superhuman at this point when it comes to his speed. He runs and runs, but it's getting ever closer. Is there any hope for him?
He trips on a twig and thinking that this is the end, he can only think that this is truly "game over" for him. Then...a random ominous comforting voice plays within his head in this utmost dire situation,
"Sorry for the delay, hope you didn't worry too much." Yoshida has so many question marks even in this dire situation at hand.
Jumping and sprinting from tree to tree, a powerful royal knight appears right in front of him. His aura so massive that it makes Yoshida gasp and the beast retreat. The knight, Felix, just stands there...menacingly while he gives off a glaring smirk and he summons an astonishing glowing divine arrow enchanted with divine blessings from the Gods and strikes at the back of the beast at blistering speeds.
Felix, with keen kindness, introduces himself and calls himself the current head of 101 squadron, 2nd squad "I've been expecting you, the Gods summoned you here from another world. They placed their divine power within your video game which would lead to your teleportation."
Yoshida understands quickly grasps the situation at hand and understands that he has just teleported into another world due to divine intervention. Yoshida asks for a ride for some place to stay. Felix accepts and notifies him that a transport helicopter is coming for them.
"Man, I've had a really long day, like wtf!" exclaims Felix. He is terrifically exhuasted after the long journey he has trekked. He just collapses on the helicopter seat, "I'm exhausted, fam." He proceeds to wake up in a new apartment. He is still processing the previous day's events up to now until a short angel in a beautiful white dress greets him.
"What the actual fuck am I looking at?" Evans stares at the girly figure in awe. The angel introduces himself as Taron, and says that he is Yoshida's guardian angel/ally for the time being.
"Guardian angel? So you're like my personal mommy?" says Evans while giving a serious look even with the rude gesture.
"No, man, I've been assigned by the divine council of the Gods to aid you in your mission,," Taron proceeds to face palm with some embarrassment.
Taron asks what mission he was assigned to and why out of all people, he was the one that was chosen. Taron, with his calm straight to the point expression informs him that he is special, that the Gods told him he has special divine powers, so special in fact that he might being hunted by a lot of devils and rogue devil hunters for his heart.
Yoshida asks with keen interest and awe on why and how he has this gift and ofcourse, what his mission is. Taron simply tells him that the gods didn't give him that much information on the subject at hand since it was too confidential for him to know.
"Anyways, let's get your uniform from 101 squadron headquarters. There are also some important people waiting for you," Taron tells Yoshida, then he nods and proceeds along with Taron.
Along the way, he is amazement at the futuristic setting of the city he is in. Taron chuckles at him and tells him that he is in the capital city of the newly United Planet Earth, New Yule and that after centuries of conflict amongst each other, humans have agreed to unite their borders to conter the real threat to their species, the devils.
"That's pretty interesting," Yoshida proceeds along until they reach their destination. From there, Taron scans his card on the scanner to allow entry for himself and Yoshida.
They make their way towards the dressing room. Taron hands over the clothes to Yoshida and asks if they are the perfect size for him. Yoshida puts on his flamboyant suit with a black tie, hence giving him a gentlemanly demeanour. As Yoshida exits the dressing room, the wind makes his pristine elegance even more apparent.
Taron whistles, "Looking good, my man."
Yoshida, attempting to act cool and awesome, gives a silly looking side eye as if he's some overpowered main character, "My pleasure."
Taron bursts into laugher and Yoshida feels some unwanted embarrassment with him putting my hand at the back of his head.
Taron tells Yoshida they have to make their way towards the main office now. They both stroll along their path.
"Hey, you're an angel, so can you fly?" Yoshida asks Taron with keen interest.
"Yeah, but I just don't wanna look out of place in public," says Taron while giving his usual calm relaxed look.
Yoshida nods, smiles and moves on. They reach the main office and angel has to scan his face on another scanner and inform the Artifical Intelligence for his reason of entry where he says, "To just pay a visit to Mr. Hung." The Artificial Intelligence accepts and allows their entry.
The office is filled with shelf after shelf of books as Mr. Hung is a massive reader himself. It gives the sense his office that it is just a massive library with so much sources of knowledge.
"Welcome, Yoshida and Taron" says the old muscular gentleman in his 50s, Mr. Hung, "I've been expecting you two."
Taron salutes him and Yoshida just follows the bandwagon without that much prior thought.
Mr. Hung proceeds appreciates Yoshida for the salute, but he may become more powerful than him someday. Taron isn't surprised as the Gods already told him that he was someone special.
Yoshida points at his chest in a frenzy, "What? Me‽ How?"
Mr. Hung points out to him that he is the descendant of the God called Hades. Yoshida asks how that is even possible. Mr. Hung tells him that in his dying moments in battle, Hades, Yoshida's dad, he teleported a baby him into another world so that the rogue devil hunters didn't catch him for his heart which possesses powers that have never been seen before. Yoshida possesses powerful divine powers, but he hasn't fully tapped into them.
Yoshida is STUNNED. Never in his boring gamer life did he think he was an actual God's child with extremely broken abilities. Mr. Hung also tells him that there are many sets of powers, but the main ones he knows of are: divine, gravity, time, wind and dark eyes. Only devil hunters can use them thus far.
He also says that powers are passed down from one generation to another within specific clans, but it can also manifest itself in other individuals if certain requirements are met.
"Powerful abilities are a luxury in this world, you can use them for good or for evil. Most of the time, you may just end up with a useless power. You gain abilities according to the type of powers you have. For example, someone with time powers may be able to see 5 seconds into the future or someone with divine powers can resurrect themselves after being killed," says Mr. Hung.
Chapter 2: Time for business
The surroundings and its air are spiked tension and surprise with Yoshida thinking about everything that Mr. Hung has just said. After that, he deliberates with Mr. Hung and agrees to join the Devil Hunting Association, the protectors of Earth against the devils.
"It sounds cool," says a motivated Yoshida, "And for once, it gives me a sense of purpose."
"Thank you for joining in the defence of this planet," says Mr. Hung with a fatherly tone, "Now, you have visit Faro, the devil hunter trainer in order tap into some of your abilities."
Taron agrees with Mr. Hung to guide him to Faro. They set off and reach his place of work. The room is filled with some sort of peaceful aura, but within a split second with impressive jaw dropping speeds, Faro is behind the both of them. They are both bamboozled by this.
With a grim and serious facial expression, Faro introduces himself, "I'm Faro, what might you want from me, Taron?"
Taron in his usual calm demeanour introduces Yoshida to Faro and explains his reasons for his coming to him. Faro proceeds to gently touch Yoshida with his hands. The room covers itself in silence for a bit.
"You have potential, a lot at that as well. Alright, I will help you tap into your powers," says Faro with a pleased expression, "Put your hand on that crystal ball over there."
Yoshida nods and proceeds with what Faro asks of him.
"Alright, close your eyes and think of yourself using your powers. Let us say that you summon a divine sword against a devil," says Faro.
The room quickly shakes and reverberates in quick succession however. Faro mutters to himself, "His abilities are too powerful, he has to calm his mind to prevent the building from collapsing."
Yoshida's head fills with divine powers that quickly overwhelm him and cause him to feel an intense headache. He proceeds to clench his teeth due to the sheer pain. Faro shouts at Yoshida to meditate as he thinks about what he said. The room slowly, but surely reduces in the quaking. The operation proceeds normally now. After 1-2 minutes, it is finished, Yoshida finally has access to at least some of his powers. Faro tells Yoshida that the rest of his powers will gradually come as time goes by and if he meets certain requirements, he can "awaken" his true powers like others to gain ever greater abilities or even reach his full extent.
"Alright, we will begin training today," says Faro with a stern expression, "First off, you ain't shit currently, you are yet to grow, but with proper training and guidance, I can see you surpassing me and many other devil hunters."
Yoshida feels a bit hurt by that statement, but it also gives him motivation at the same time to improve.
They soon begin duelling with each other. Yoshida summons his divine sword of Esgeth and charges with keen determination at Faro. Faro dodges his sword attacks and back hands him.
"You aren't half bad, kid," says Faro. Faro proceeds to tell Yoshida that he needs to come at him not with only aggression in mind, but with strategy and intellect.
Yoshida clenches his fists and nods at him with sheer determination. Round 2 soon begins. Yoshida still uses his divine sword while Faro just brings in a blunt knife. They both tingle with anticipation of what is to come.
Yoshida bolts at speeds that even break the sound barrier. Faro, having predicted this, effortlessly dodges Yoshida, but something odd happens now...Yoshida starts coughing up blood without stop...he was just stabbed in the abdomen. His eyes fill with blood and he even starts choking from his own blood. Faro just..stands there, emotionless in all.
Yoshida collapses to the ground and dies...
Taron screams out, "Yoshida, what the f**k did you just do‽"
Faro just stares at Taron. He tells him, "don't worry."
Taron fills up with even more rage, "I'm his guardian angel, hence I must enact his will upon you." Faro glows with ever increasing light, he grows from the short small boy he was into a 7'0 muscular giant. A beam descends from heaven and it drops his staff.
Then...the ground trembles with doves gathering above Yoshida's body. His body proceeds to be engulfed in divine blessings. He rises up and gives off a shell shocked look after that. Yoshida has just resurrected.
"See? Told you not to worry," says Taron, "Due to the love from the Gods for Yoshida, he has an innumerable amount of divine blessings/protections which grant him plenty of abilities, with resurrection being among them. I noticed that just from feeling his heart. I have to say, he's off the hook! There is someone else in 101 squadron who is similar to you. His name, Felix."
Taron is just absolutely flabbergasted by this and has a double take, but in the end, he is just glad that Yoshida isn't dead. He goes back to this original cute form with the danger now gone.
"Wow, just wow. That was EPICCC!!!" boasts Yoshida.
Taron smiles alongside Yoshida. Faro tells Yoshida that his training for today is finished now and that he has managed to tap into some of his potential, but he also tells him to be careful not to over use the resurrection power as it can spell grave consequences on his brain until he learns how to master his powers.
They both proceed to head back to their apartment. From there, Taron cooks for the both of them with sharp expertise. They both have dinner and Yoshida compliments Taron on his cooking. Taron glees at him and they both eat to their hearts' content.
Yoshida heads off to bed while Taron doesn't need to sleep since he is an angel, he doesn't need rest to stay healthy, just food and some exercise so, he just relaxes in the living room by drinking coffee and reading some literature books.
When Yoshida starts to dream, he has a long lost memory of when he was a baby. His mother, Halda was holding him in his hands, then when he blinks, it instantly cuts to his house burning and his mother burning under burned rubble. The city was hit with a hydrogen bomb.
Yoshida survived miraculously due to his resurrection powers...he's the only survivor however. He was crying tremendously. Hades found him soon afterwards. He felt his divine aura and adopted him, "You may become the saviour of this cruel world someday," Hades said.
It's morning now and Yoshida wakes up as if he slept on the wrong side of the bed with tears slowly falling out of his eyes, "Mother..." He says with deep sorrow and anguish. After some deep meditation and reflection, he comes back to normal. He breathes in and out. He takes it all in one step at a time.
"We have to head out soon," says Taron, "We have to meet the members of your new squad."
Yoshida, with some ecstaticity dresses up in his glamorous uniform and he strolls along with Taron to 101 squadron headquarters. They reach there on time and move towards his squad's meeting room.
"Looks like we arrived a bit to early so looks like we have to wait," says Taron.
Yoshida agrees with him.
They proceed to wait it out for some minutes. Soon, all the members arrive. Felix, remembering Yoshida from the day before yesterday, gives him a handshake and they chat a bit about their lives where Felix goes about how devil activity seems to be increasing and Yoshida tells him that he is slowly, but surely tapping into his powers.
Introductions of each member:
Name: Felix Reinhard
Leader
2nd Squad, 101 Squadron
Power: Divine
Power Description: Grants the user different sets divine blessings/protections. Not all divine users have the same powers.
Name: Himino Tales
2nd Squad, 101 Squadron
Power: Future
Power Description: Allows him to see 5 seconds into the future.
Name: Kensworth Smite
2nd Squad, 101 Squadron
Power: Nulfication
Power Description: Nullifies all enemies' powers with his domain expansion.
Name: Turner Styles
2nd Squad, 101 Squadron
Power: Switcharoo
Power Description: Can copy the powers of others for a certain period of time depending on how powerful they are, but it requires him to understand the fundamentals of those powers.
Name: Taron Guildworth
Vice Leader
2nd Squad, 101 Squadeon
Power: Divine
Power Description: Grants the user different sets divine blessings/protections. Not all divine users have the same powers.
Name: Yoshida Natsuki
2nd Squad, 101 Squadron
Power: Divine
Power Description: Grants the user different sets divine blessings/protections. Not all divine users have the same powers.
Everyone takes their seats and they have a brief discussion. Felix quickly gets to the point. He tells everyone the agenda, "Today we have a new member, Yoshida, please let us know about you."
Yoshida with a confident, but a bit shy expression shares what he has to about himself. The entire room lights up with smiles, they all seem to like them except for Turner who just keeps to himself.
"I like this new guy," says Himino with utmost glee and
"Yeah, me too," says Kensworth, but with a bit less bliss.
Felix then tells them that they are going to be patrolling District F of the city for any devils. They will be split up into teams with Taron, Yoshida and Turner forming Team 1 and Kensworth, Himino and Felix forming Team 2. He also tells that that they must all be utterly and wholly vigilant during this mission.
They all salute and move out.
Felix, Kensworth and Himino all take the bus to reach their designated area while Taron teleports Yoshida and Turner with him using his divine powers.
Mr. Hung checks the info report on Yoshida, "He may just be able to avenge you, Hades. Till we meet again somewhere in the afterlife, old comrade." This mystery is palpable.
During their walk around the area in which they are patrolling, Yoshida, Taron and Turner have a chat. Yoshida asks what he should do once when he encounters a devil. Turner gives off a blank stare and tells him to just dispose of them through whatever means necessary.
Taron has been a member of 2nd squad for sometime and he has come to notice that Turner always carries out his mission with the same emotionless state as always.
He asks, "Why do you always look gloomy during these devil hunts and patrols, Turner?"
Turner just stares blankly again and with his same old straight face, he tells them that he just wants to save his brother.
"Did something happen between you two?" asks Taron with a little eagerness to find out about what Turner's backstory is.
Turner tells him that his brother, Garnt Styles, were each other's pals. They were like Adam and Eve in Eden. Then, 10 years ago, one day, he was kidnapped by devils and taken to the demon realm. I joined the devil hunting association so I could find and rescue him.
In the demon realm, he was bound to be enslaved and abused. After a fearsome struggle to eradicate the demon realm by the devil hunters, he found his brother as he was scouting ahead of his platoon. He was burned and his corpse tortured. From what it looks like, he was dammed to death due to his inability to continue slaving away for the demons. They were just peaceful farm boys minding their own business.
"I vow to slaughter every last one of those damn scum even if it means that I would die," says Turner.
There is a moment of silence as Yoshida and Taron look at each other. They both slowly breathe in and out. Taron tells Turner that he will try his best by his side through thick and thin while fighting the devils.
Yoshida is just unsure of how to respond, he has never had to deal with a situation this tense and emotional so, he just looks at Taron and Turner talking to each other.
They continue on their patrol up and down the district. They just walk and keep on walking. They contact Felix and his team and tell them that there is no devil activity, but the comms on his end are off.
With the three of them clearly perturbed, they make their way towards Team 2's last known position. There, Himino tells them that the portal devil kidnapped Felix so that we would give him Yoshida's heart, but...Himino and Kensowrth aren't showing a shred of concern. They are just drinking coffee and eating sandwiches at a cafe.
Even Taron is saying, "Oh, looks like they kidnapped the wrong guy, that poor devil is gonna face it rough."
Felix is now facing off against the portal devil in its own realm, where he controls all properties of space and matter within it.
Felix keeps a straight smile and gentlemanly demeanour, "Greetings, I suppose you are the next being I am about to desecrate."
The devil tells Felix not to get too cocky. Felix simply tells him that he shall see about that. The devil attempts to crush Felix and with sheer ferocity too, but it only ends up slightly getting his clothes dirty. His body is cloaked with a plethora of divine blessings. It tries in vain to toss Felix around the dimension by controlling the space around him, but Felix is so strong that instead, the ground below him collapses from the pressure and he is still standing there...menacingly.
Taron teleports Felix into the devil's dimension just to allow Yoshida to spectate how a real devil hunter fights. Taron flies high up, but the devil thinks he is about to defeat three devil hunters at the same time, then within an instant bolts behind him,
"Did you see this coming?"
The devil attempts to crush Felix again, but his divine blessing of foresight which allows him to foresee attacks which were previously attempted on him allows him to easily dodge it unscathed.
The devil wonders where Felix has gone now. In fact, Felix is moving at speeds that are incomprehensible to the devil. Yoshida is in sheer awe at this while Taron wishes he brought coffee to watch this fight. Felix kicks up a dust of air so strong that it leads to the devil being booted out of his own dimension and onto the surface he was previously on.
Kensworth opens up his domain expansion which prevents the devil from using anymore of his powers just in the nick of time.
Taron teleports Felix and Yoshida out of the dimension. Felix tells Yoshida that he can take his kill. Yoshida nods and smiles with a fury of eagerness coming from Turner's message.
Yoshida honed one more skill during the fight between Felix and portal devil. Copying Felix, he sprints at incredible speeds towards the devil and attempts to kick its head off, but the devil also learnt from Felix and came up with a way to counter him.
Yoshida comes so fast though, that the devil's head is kicked off there and then, hence giving the devil no time to stab Yoshida in the chest. The one sided fight is finally over.