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[Location: Top of the Capital Confinement Chambers]



Dyshana - Mysterious Guide

Not all of them knew why they were here. That was to be expected, of course. The Yatagarasu had never been a group that often gathered many members together. When it did, it was usually in the safety of the Kuzunoha Village, the primary place of residence and training for the main part of its workforce. Of course, the group had more secrecy-shrouded branches than most of the members had any idea existed, but you got used to it. Information was, after all, usually need-to-know. Well, everyone who'd been called was here, so she supposed it was time to get started. "You are here today for two reasons." the woman said without preamble. Clearly, she expected them to pay attention when she spoke. "For the first part of tonight, you are going to witness what it is the most powerful members of our group actually do. This is what we have been raising each of you to potentially take part in someday, and the Yatagarasu has determined that you may have the potential to take the next step forward in your training. To that end, after what you see, you will be given the opportunity for hands-on training with one of the Kuzunoha, who at our request has made herself available for a few hours. You will be taken to the Dark Realm to encounter spirits, and you are likely to meet some that are more powerful than you have seen before. Perhaps you will even tame them. However, before your practical lesson, you are going to be travelling extremely deep into the Confinement Chambers. While you are there, consider yourself bound by Hoard Law. For those who aren't familiar with the term, it means this: Do not touch anything. Do not take anything. And if you value your life and your soul, do not break anything. I am neither joking nor exaggerating." Indeed, there was not the slightest trace of humor anywhere in her expression. "In the region you will be visiting, each floor contains items that are capable of utterly annihilating Japan if they got out, and we do not take any chances with them. Ever. Those who violate Hoard Law will receive no second chance, and will never be a Summoner again. The areas where you are permitted to walk will be marked; stay inside of the lines and do not do anything unless I tell you, and you will be fine. Now, come." The woman turned around and strode towards the waiting lift that would take each who entered it to the deepest pits of their organziation's single most important facility.

-Munenori Sakamoto, Devil Summoner-

-Munenori Sakamoto, Devil Summoner-

Dyshana - Mysterious Guide and Raidou Kuzunoha the XIX

[Location: Capital Confinement Chambers: Floor 990]

A clattering, frail-looking gate barred the way back onto the lift as Dyshana gestured once more, and the room was quiet for a single long moment. But only a moment, because the entire runic formation began glowing as Raidou Kuzunoha the XIX carved the last marking into it, finishing a line and activating a creation that had been worked on full-time for years. Wards of binding, wards of sealing, wards of weakening, wards of holding... every manner of protection the entire organization had been able to come up with had been designed, refined, focused, and upgraded numerous times in order to contain the power of one of the strongest entities that had ever appeared in Japan. Literally hundreds of layers of barriers had been created for this sole purpose.

When the first part of the being held inside Raidou's soul was released, nearly half of those barriers shattered outright. Streams of power, black and red, went straight through the barrier circle and crashed into the walls of the chamber, blowing straight through them before whipping back in. One of those tendrils came straight towards the group of apprentice Summoners, and Dyshana's eyes narrowed just a bit. Faster than a human should have ever moved, she was in front of the blast, a huge scythe in her hands where no weapon had been before. One massive strike sent the energy back into the magic circle, away from the apprentices. The more intelligent among them might, at that point, realize why they had been told to stay within the lines... it wasn't that it was safe anywhere in the chamber, but they could stand behind their guide so long as they were there.

However, many things were still going on within the runic circle itself. The failure of so many barriers had been expected, and it simply needed to hold long enough for the primary sealing. A huge, white blur leapt through the air as an avatar of Fenrir grabbed onto one of the tendrils with his mouth, straining with all of his divine might, and power as a God of Hunger, as he pulled the tendril of black power towards one of the open areas of the runic circle. Once he was there, his eyes flashed, and Raidou gestured with one hand. "The Golden Bough!" The demon wolf's body twisted, becoming an enormous crystalline spike with the end of the black tendril held inside its core. A silver-skinned angel shot down from high in the chamber and struck the flat end of the spike, driving it deep into the floor. Golden chains shot out of the circle itself and latched onto the crystal spike, wrapping around it and binding it in place.

[Fenrir has become the Southwest Seal!]

This was, however, only the beginning of the enormously complex sealing process. Not that the Yatagarasu liked complex things, exactly, but it was simply that nothing else would be strong enough. A second flare of power erupted out of Raidou's body, smashing through guards and barriers and forcing the guide of the apprentices to keep moving, keeping it away from them as another demon grabbed hold. This one was Vairocana, a purple-skinned, radiant figure from whose hands flowed devastating fire and light as he wrestled with the power coming out of the Kuzunoha's body. Step by step, the demon managed to slowly get the dark power closer to its destination, and even so, it was only a fraction of the entity they were keeping held. Raidou gestured again. "Celaeno Fragments!" Those paying attention to places besides her might have noticed that when she called out, she was signaling to what looked like grimoires placed around the circle, and Vairocana's body shifted and twisted, becoming much more like alien architecture, whose strange geometry had taken the end of the tendril and twisted it into madness to prevent it from getting free. The entire formation was surrounded by runic circles of its own, carved out of light as Metatron formed the next layer of seals.

[Vairocana has become the Northeast Seal!]

Another tendril of power erupted from Raidou Kuzunoha's body, and blood splattered the ground in front of her as she coughed. Nobody could handle this kind of power flowing through them so easily, not even a Kuzunoha used to regulating magic for demons, and the girl's eyes were grim and determined as another demon lunged out to grab onto the power as it thrashed around the area. This one was an enormous, dark dragon, who much like Fenrir seemed content to bite into the darkness and pull. One flash of power coming out of Raidou's body slammed into the demon's side, and Seth hit the ground, unmoving. The next demon was already waiting to take over, however. The Yatagarasu was fond of redundancy, including having extras, and what looked like a lion with the head and torso of a woman leaped out and gripped the power. The Sphinx, it seemed, pulling and tugging the tendril of power, though it fought all it could, into the designated circle. None of the demons in the area seemed to have anywhere near the power to deal with more of the beast than this; though mighty in their own right, each of them, what they dealt with was no more than a fraction of the whole, and the Sphinx bellowed her challenge. "Book of Eibon!" Raidou ordered, and a pyramid formed, a massive gateway slamming down on the tendril to pin it in place as the Sphinx's body was transformed into an unknown black substance. Within the pyramid, countless needles pierced the tendril, binding magics flowing from them to keep it in place.

[The Sphinx has become the Northwest Seal!]

But there was still more to go, and Dyshana warded off another mindless blow of power that had fluxed towards the apprentices. By now, it was very obvious that had she not been there, they would have all been nothing more than paint against what remained of the walls. A dark hand reached out to grip the newest tendril of power as an enourmous woman held onto the power trying to get free. A demoness of the Night clan, called Maya, whose presence quite outclassed any of the demons the apprentices possessed, and it was clear that she was using all of her considerable strength to drag the tendril of power towards where it needed to be. It was slowly managed, however, and what looked like countless illusions sprung into place as the demoness disappeared. "Cultes des Goules!" The tendril of power, seemingly freed, whipped back and forth. Yet wherever it tried to escape, a wall appeared to block it, and it seemed almost disoriented... confused, even, in the face of the illusions created by the mistress of false images.

[Maya has become the Southeast Seal!]

One more tendril of power flowed out from Raidou's body, and an angel gripped this one. With dark skin and six wings, this was a demon who possessed true power... and the Demiurge heaved, pulling the tendril of energy backwards to the designated spot as stray fluxes of power scattered through the chamber. One of them went straight towards Raidou, only to be stopped as her sword raised up and flashed through it. That bit of power dissipated as the Demiurge, having a bit less trouble than the previous demons but still expending considerable effort, finally managed to pin the fifth tendril into place. "Pnakotic Manuscripts!" Raidou ordered, and the Demiurge vanished, replaced by what looked like a temple, the gateway of which pierced through the tendril of energy and held it fast.

[Demiurge has become the North Seal!]

With five layered seals in place, golden lines shot between the lines to form the shape of a golden star, a ritualistic seal of incredible power, held in place by the souls of deities and demons alike. Yet all the power that had been dealt with so far was but fragments of the demon the Yatagarasu had wanted to seal... and there was still the main body to be dealt with. With that, Raidou tugged on the Tube that always hung around her neck and began chanting. "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." The Tube she was holding flashed brilliantly as not one, not two, but four demons burst out of it. Four demons who, together, stood as the Four Riders. It was the capability to use this technique, more than anything else, that had been given as the reason for why she was called Raidou. Where each demon before had been immensely powerful in its own right, the sort of ally that would give the head of the Yatagarasu a reason to seriously consider making one a Kuzunoha Apprentice, this summon eclipsed them all. As an enormous darkness shot out of Raidou's body, it lunged straight away from her, only to run into a hail of arrows that would have cut through lesser demons like butter. The mass of power continued on, however, and the Red Rider raised his sword and rode forth, carving through the mass wih his sword. The released demon slowed, but did not stop, and the Black Rider raised his scales. Darkness enveloped the deity, and the Pale Rider raised his sickle. Almighty energy flowed out of it and cut into the deity. With every movement, the Four Riders attacked the mass of power, striking it to get it to move a little this way, a little that way, and step by step forcing it into where it needed to be... in the very center of the runic circle, where Raidou Kuzunoha's most powerful summon was doing everything it could to keep their target at bay. They were not going to overpower it. It was simply too powerful, a void of infinite depth that simply refused to bow down to them. Even now, it seemed to have no definite form; it was a huge mass of power, tendrils of which had been stretched out of it, and Raidou gestured once again. "Unaussprechlichen Kulten!" she ordered, and the last of the grimoires obtained and prepared for this seal activated. It floated into the air, its pages rapidly flipping by themselves as power coursed out from the tome, shaping into an enormous, almost mechanical being that reached down to grasp the sphere of power. It didn't seem possible that any more energy could have flowed into the room... but it did, and the Nameless One focused its power onto the mass of energy that had come from within Raidou. This was the moment they had prepared for over the course of years. Every preparation, every seal, every binding and ritual was all for this moment, and the power they were binding thrashed. The rest of the lesser seals of the runic circle broke as the dark mass pulled back to reveal one terrible, enormous eye.



With nothing other than the force of its gaze, wards meant to seal a deity, wards that had survived the tendrils of power and held fast, were blown aside like so much trash. Yet it was, in the end, too late. The Yatagarasu had been prepared, and the Nameless One exerted its power. Bit by bit, the being they were sealing vanished. The pinned tendrils thinned, and the mass of power shrunk, layer after layer of terrible power vanishing as one of the most potent and terrifying of all the Yatagarasu's capabilities was brought to bear. The deity they were faced with was too powerful. There simply were no wards that could hold it in a place, only in a soul, and so they had spent years doing something else instead. Preparing to keep it in place long enough to completely wipe its existence from the universe, to banish its power and its being beyond the reaches of time and space so that it could never again threaten them. For one moment, a form could be seen in the banished deity, that of a dark-haired female, young and beautiful... and that, too, vanished into the void, at the same time the tendrils of power disappeared completely. The Nameless One vanished back into its grimoire, and Raidou exhaled.

Finally, it was over, and she gestured with her tube to recall The Four Riders. That was easily the most draining of all her Summons, and she didn't like to have them out any longer than absolutely necessary. But the seal was complete. Five powerful demons had taken the outer barriers, and to ever release this seal, they'd have to be beaten. But even then, the Nameless One's abilities acted as the inner barrier. The rejection of reality that would wipe out demon or deity or mortal alike unless the seal was dismantled properly... and as long as it held, the demon that had killed the previous generation of Kuzunoha would never be able to return to this universe. It was the most powerful barrier and warding they could possibly have performed, and Raidou stood up and turned around, fluffing back her hair as she turned to the apprentices. "That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the job of Summoners." she said softly. "To seal away the things that threaten this world so they can do no harm. It is not even a little bit safe, and a single mistake there could seriously have ended life on this world. You have been shown this because our organization wants you to understand just what it is you are going to be dealing with someday. Quite this bad? Probably not, but we don't believe in planning for the best to happen. One failure, just one, can have catastrophic consequences. Those of you who have chosen to follow the path of the Summoner need to be prepared to handle things like this, and it won't make you feel any better to know that the rate of people who die in the line of duty is over eighty-five percent. There are many groups in Japan that look to use their powers, but none of them are quite like we are. In your work, you may come across foes that make you wish an army of demons was all you had to deal with. You must be prepared. To fight on, to make sacrifices, to do whatever it takes to accomplish your mission. In the end, you will only have yourself and your demons to rely on... and that is why, today, you'll have the opportunity to get yourself some new ones." she strode out of the broken, ruined circle that had once been a magnificent set of barriers, the creation of years of work, and Dyshana gestured towards the lift. The bars slid open, and Raidou indicated that they should all board. "I will be participating as well, and I'll save you if you really need it, but I will also be judging and grading your actions and abilities. If any of you show particular promise, you may be allowed to begin the next phase of your training. This is your chance to show me what you can do, so I suggest you do your best."

Jo(Shu) Michieru, the strange Senior,
Jo(shu) watched the event, lazily as stuff started to go down.
It was...some kind of complex, sealing ritual. And as he watched, he couldn't help but be amazed at the show of....prowess.

At the black haired girl's comments, he couldn't help but stop, and raise his hand, as if in a classroom.
"Umm...question? Or like... ten?" he stated. If Raidou had any perception of the summoners, she'd realize how out of place he looked. He knew exactly one person in the room, and it wasn't anyone who had shared much of any information with him.
....
but, perhaps Kyoji had spoken to her at some point about him? Or something....

He wasn't sure about the others, so he couldn't possibly know if they used tubes like Kotetsu, or if they summoned like he did.
...
Either way, hopefully he would get some awnsers on the way at least.