Taboo | How To slay A Kishin IC (PROLOG MODE)

Haven Airspace | Balefire Airship

Seeing that his thoughts on the Kishin were ignored, Aeron simply gave a light frown before shaking his head and looking at Lucy.

"Well then, we should be leaving the ship now. You ready?", Aeron asked his adoptive sister before nibbling on one of the remaining small sandwiches on his plate.





Balefire Academy | Forest

"Then I'll have you know that I feel like eating fish with a dash of lemon flavoring today, maybe some calamari on the side.", Saki said with a grin as she squinted her eyes.

Saki was confident she would move swiftly to collect the tags, and once she did, she would get a rather delicious dinner tonight. After all, there was more to her than met the eye. It was then when Saki heard Kensei already fantasizing and fawning over the girls he still had yet to see, prompting her to look over to the strange man with a raised brow.

"Oh, and what will you be 'teaching' them?", Saki asked the man, placing a hand on her hip. It was clear that Saki was rather suspicious of his motives, and if she was right, Kensei would be observing the girls a little more closely than would be comfortable.

Haven Airspace | Balefire Airship

The talking flower actually managed to suprise Asura with it's words. Something that didn't come easily to the boy. Although the reason why probably wasn't what she was thinking. ("Another being that thirsts for the blood of kishin? I wonder if she can smell my kishin blood. Is that why she asked me that or was it just a coincidence?") he asked himself as he watched the two girls walk away. Asura looked back to his new buddy and spoke. "Come on, lets ace this test so we can relax." His calm personality seemed to return not that the flower was gone. anyone who payed close enough attention might notice a slight metallic sound whenever the young man walked.

Lucy tried to cheer her brother up by lightly patting him on the head the way one would a dog or a cat to show affection. It wasn't the way people would communicate but she was trying her best. "Yeah, right behind oyu.... don't let me get lose ok? I'm really bad with directions."

Balefire Academy | Forest

"then I hope you know how to make it yourself." Yuru said coyly as she smirked at her master. She seemed sure of herself, this proved to be an interesting test indeed. When called out on his intentions Kensei somehow was able to lie and speak the truth at the same time. weather or not that would spare him from the wrath of Saki and the other women around here was yet to be seen.

"Physical education of coarse. It's my job to worry about the students physical form and keep them in tip top shape. Don't worry I''ll do my best to help all of them fill out in just the right places, for hunting purposes only I assure you." The elderly Chinese man was way too excited about his job, clearly having another, less than honorable motive.

Haven Airspace |Airship Docks

Just a bit more...

Alexander however at first did not react to the coughing, because mostly he did not know it was meant to get his attention. His eyes continued scanning the map a bit more to orientate himself. He sighed slightly before there was a voice behind him... talking to him? Curious, it sounded like a girl. The man turned around slowly, if she had done it at his village... she would have been shot repeatedly. The scavenger looked at the girl with the blankest of stares, the bottom of his face covered and a hoodie pulled over his head. His red eyes stared at her for a second and let the lady talk... It was rude to interrupt right? It sounded about right in his mind. His face showed little to no emotion or response, in fact it looked cold.

"Nervous gets you killed where I am from. If I did not trust my fathers training, then I wouldn't have walked through Kishin territory to come here."

With the bank monotone voice at first came out just a bit confrontational. Maybe even accusatory which was not Alexander's intention. Still he didn't bother to correct his speech, it was said an done. His eyes darted all over the place scanning her from top to bottom. He looked at the ladies face, down to her clothes and to her hands. His mind was doing the math in his head, her healthy figure meant she never starved once in her life. The clothes were that of a Middle to Upper class, somewhere around there. Hands had slight calluses in areas where you grabbed a weapon. Most likely some kind of melee weapon like a knife or a spear maybe? Regardless that was very brave of her to go close up to a Kishin... or stupid depending on her skill and training. They tended to go hand in hand.

"Still worth it for that nap. Name's Alexander Zenneth... Hope that melee weapon of yours is good... Knife? Spear?"

Still the face was blank, but there was just that one second of pause in his voice. He wasn't used to talking this much,, it made him feel slightly uncomfortable. It also did not help he did not know much about life outside the real world so there was not much to talk about. It was never that he was trying to be antisocial. So what was left? How do you do this thing civilized society called a conversation? Was this how it was done?

Dammit and she looks kinda cute.

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

---

That wasn't so bad, Mirai thought. In that short span, she was able to gather the man's name and background, and even managed to elicit a responding question, albeit his voice sounded cold and calculating. She could see that, however, that the man; who was barely older than her if that; scanned her, possibly to either determine her threat... or vulnerabilities.

"Itou no Mirai is mine." Mirai responded with her name, and a clarification. "And it is neither of the two; but I can understand the confusion. This blade of mine is a little shorter than conventional blades, because it is a specialty blade from the country I am from."

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

The man remained quiet as he stood there with arms crossed next to Setsuna. He wasn't thinking... but rather just quiet for a good minute before he finally spoke up to her.

"Felicia... Felicia is my sister. She was the one tasked with assisting you to my knowledge. My name is Azama. Has she not informed you of my arrival here?" Azama spoke as he then turned to face Setsuna with a very sharp, and rather intimidating stare that seemed to just... pierce right through a person almost. Obviously he is of the Kage clan like he had just mentioned... and must be well trained for what his age seems to be judging by how he was capable of somewhat effortlessly hiding inside Setsuna's shadow.

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

"Oh.... some kind of sword or machete then... Decent weapon for close up... Most people try to keep the Kishin be away... You have more ba- guts than most people."

Alexander still was looking around her a bit in an examining sort of way, before stopping. He was done analyzing the girl that stood before her. However the red eyes were now trying to pierce a pair of holes through her eyes. It was a window of people souls and he was mildly surprised to see the slightly hardened look to them. Likewise it was fairly obvious by the look through Alexanders eyes that he has seen a lot of shit. Enough to make him very jaded towards life, but tried to make most of it. He was done examining the girl and sighed. He had finally come to a conclusion, which caused him to smirk under that mask of his.

"You are going to pass the exam. There is no doubt about it. Your mind and body has hardened enough to fight Kishin."

It was a very blunt and matter the fact the way he said it. He was bad at words and how to speak them. However Alexander thought that the words were enough to get his point across. However he now needed to consider what to do before the exam started. What kind was it going to be? Physical? Survival? Written? All three? He hopped it was not written, because his penmanship was utter garbage. However he seriously doubted that. He motioned his hand to Mirai as if offering to carry her bags if she had any and wanted to start walking to the academy. That was the polite thing to do right? Chivalry was still a thing nowadays right?

"So have any idea what the exams are going to be?"

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks


Making sure that the straps of her armor were in place, Diana decided to keep moving to the academy, she was prepared for the test and wanted to release her energy ("There is so much potential here.. but the window of opportunity is so small..") she thought while glancing at the many possible students ("I´m an easy to spot target, got to keep alert."). For the blonde viking, many of the young people weren´t a threat, not because of over confidence, but because she could feel the different powers radiating from each of them. ("If we end up fighting with others, it will be an interesting scene.") she smirked and the talisman on her arm glowed faintly.

(Sorry for not posting for some time, got kind of caught up in a new project)
Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

---

Cecilia showed a slight smile when she herd Ashelewi's answer to what she had to say. It was certainly not what she had expected, but that made it even more fun. "Well, at least you understand that you are not the best fighter in the world then. Too many think they are the best in the world, only to get cut down as soon as the fight starts. When it comes to learning to fight, I don't know completely to be sure. Sure, there are lots of people that can't fight on this ship, but those will all fail the entrance exam. For the most part I think the ones that will come through are the ones that already know how to fight and what it means, they just need to learn how to use it. With an entrance exam like this, the school is basically saying that it expects you to already know how to fight. Then you have people like me, who simply come here because "If you have been to Balefire, you know what you are doing, if else, you are just a staggering idiot". I've been slaying Kishin for years now, and I still get that" Cecilia answered, letting of some steam that she even had to come here in the process. When the Airship did a half nosedive Cecilia understood that it was probably time to get ready. "Well that's it for now. Good luck I guess" She said as she was leaving to get the big case with all her stuff. While she didn't like decreasing her own odds at getting in, a good luck didn't really do that.

Once the airship landed she "folded" the case in a way so that she could strap it to her back (it was a quite adaptable case). As she left the airship she let her drones fly relatively high so that she could get a good look at the area. At the same time she also tried to see what sort of groups had formed on the airship. Anything to be prepared and stay ahead. In Cecilia's mind, the exam had started the moment they entered the airship.

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

"You too...." Ashlewi returned the gesture Cecilia gave.

Despite Cecilia's seemingly negitive attitude, Ashlewi found the honesty and logical way she seemed to approach the world refreshing. From what Ashlewi could see, many of the youths on the ship were just that--young. Starting the exam with something that would indulge their already poor decision-making and observation of what their purpose in the academy is seemed counter-productive to what the purpose of the academy was. Ashlewi hoped that it was all just a clever ruse to get the immature and unprepared to reveal themselves so they could be removed from the student body, while those who showed true potential would be able to be recognized and kept. Certainly, that made the most sense, right?

As the ship came to a halt, Ashlewi moved to grab her things from a small temporary locker many of the potential students employed to hold their things while they flew. Since lodging would be provided, she only had a briefcase carrying her possessions. Before emerging back into the masses, she opened the case up and observed the items. A pair of high-heeled boots, with a special augmentation that each heel was actually a gun. They were the result of one of the many things Ashlewi had to do to pay for her schooling after her parents died. Next to them was a combat knife, given to her by the same scientist that designed the boots. What she removed from the pack was her wrist-mounted computer, an item she actually bought and paid for with her own money upon her decision to join the academy. Below them in a false compartment were two sets of clothing. One was an exact replica of the clothing she currently had on, and the other was a black and white maid's uniform--the dress code for employees at her new part time job.

Ashlewi mounted the computer and powered it on, attaching an ear piece and eye piece to her ear and having the extras ready in case she needed to communicate to someone else. The device spanned the length of her forearm, but managed to look sleek and functional. Anyone who knew about military tech would know that the computer was military-grade hardware; a benefit to being born into the high life. Anyone else would likely recognize it as a cool computer the big-wigs use to manage accounts, and do other rich people stuff.

Ashlewi closed her case and made her way toward the entrance, giving people the same scrutinizing gaze as she passed them. Cecilia was certainly right. They either didn't know how to fight, or were simply here to fight. Anything in-between was a rare treasure.

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

Aeron simply gave his adoptive sister a faint but warm smile at what she said. It was kind of cute how Lucy was worried about getting lost, and he didn't mind that she relied on him to guide her through the academy. In time, she would grow accustomed to the world. With that thought in mind, Aeron held out his hand for Lucy to grab.

"We won't be accepted into the academy if we spend all day here. Let's go pass that test.", Aaron said to Lucy in a confident tone. It was clear that Aaron believed the both of them had what it took.





Balefire Academy | Forest

Saki just kept that suspicious gaze of hers transfixed on the rather unusual Kensei for a good few seconds, as if to say she had her eye on the teacher.

"Just try to stick to the standard curriculum. We don't want any unfortunate injuries.", Saki said with a light sigh before looking out to the airship in the distance. Saki too was interested in what the students would be like. Just what skills would they possess? What motivations did they have? What potential did they have hidden deep inside? Saki did not know, but she was sure that at least a handful of them were exactly what she and Yuru were looking for.