"Okay, kids can anyone tell me what this means?" I pointed to the image I drew in the dirt. Three cartoony skulls rested above a square with their class number inside the box.
"U-uh isn't that a military symbol?" Takahiro surprised me when he spoke up, his hand still holding his gut as he winced.
"Huh, color me surprised. I didn't think anyone would know this one." The organization of the Exorcist Corp is first and foremost that of a military. With the presence of phantoms, sin-eaters, and rogue witches the far-outnumbered exorcists need to think tactically in engagements.
"My dad talks about it sometimes..." The 'when he's drunk' was left out for obvious reasons. I gave the chubby kid a sympathetic nod, my eyes looking out at the people I was helping get into this hellish job. The trauma one faces from fighting abominations made from humanity's darkest desires can easily drive a man mad. Alcohol and drug use amongst the 'lucky' ones who retire in this line of work is ubiquitous. And for the worst... suicide is usually how they meet their end.
"This is the symbol of our unit and like it or not before the end of this semester, we will most likely have mission experience. You fifteen are the newest generation of exorcists, and that means all eyes will be on you." In the nation of Japan, there are only two exorcist training facilities, the Tokyo Exorcist Academy, and the Onmyōdō Technical Institute. With the combined student body of both schools, the amount of aspiring exorcists in all four years is under 200.
The nation of 125,440,000 people has only slightly over 1,500 fully trained exorcists from both the clans and the two academies combined protecting it. This means that the multitude of phantoms born in Tokyo and the entire country are held off by 0.000011957908163% of the population. Now do you understand why Ueda Daichi needed a power-up every fight and massive plot armor to survive? It's because this world without his OP bullshit is doomed. And guess what the real kicker is? Ueda Daichi is refusing to leave his dorm room, the bastard won't even show up to the cafeteria so all his food is brought to him.
"What are missions like?" Hachirou asked with a queasy look on his face, the reality of the situation has set in for him after his clash with the Gashadokuro.
"Grim, you usually show up after the phantom has eaten the victim. The thing with phantoms though is that they don't eat flesh, they're looking for the sin and geist on the inside. So when you show up on scene you'll find these globs of flesh and bones stuck to walls, hung from ceilings, or right on the floor. Those are always human remains and never is it just one victim, identifying bodies is usually impossible after a phantom has 'eaten' them." Did I mention the mangaka's early work was a series of one-shot horror stories filled with grotesque body horror? No? Well, it wasn't really important as dead is dead, and I won't really care how my body looks after I die.
"..." The kids all looked pale, and Tsukasa was gritting her teeth so hard I could hear it from over here. Yuzuki's head was down as I knew she was most likely thinking of the market of Hyakki Yagyō and the 'food' they sold. Fumiko met my eyes with a determined gleam, I think she thought I'd think less of her for showing fear. That was far from the truth however as I personally found the concept disgusting myself. Akari looked on not showing emotion, her thought process probably similar to my own regarding the lack of care we'd have for our corpses if we died.
"Those are the lucky ones though. If a phantom is born from the sin of lust you will most likely find yourself as its seedbed. It happens more frequently with female victims but there have been cases of males being impregnated by phantoms as well. Infant phantoms don't need a womb to grow as they gestate inside a person's geist circuits. Once the phantom is finished developing it proceeds to burrow its way outside of its host, eating them in the process." This is of course the fate every exorcist wishes to avoid so many have cyanide pills disguised as a fake tooth hidden in their mouth. Garridan must have thought it was necessary as when my tongue licked over one of my molars I could feel the plastic of a fake tooth. Thinking back on it Charlotte no doubt had one as well, and before their first mission, the rest of these kids would get one too.
"...Fuck." Fumiko cursed as the girls looked at me with varying faces of disgust and fear. The boys put on brave faces and a few cracked a couple of jokes about pregnant men but everyone could tell they were scared shitless too. Exorcist sex-ed is far more brutal than whatever your high school sex-ed teacher could give.
"That's why we're training now. Every drop of sweat is meant to prevent a drop of blood on the battlefield. We need to become a well-disciplined fighting force to prevent any of us from ending up like that. To help with our chances today we'll be learning exorcist tactics." As I spoke I drew an X in the dirt with my finger. Surrounding it I placed several O shapes around it.
"Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this formation? The X is a phantom and the O's are exorcists." Everyone looked down at the dirt with deep faces of concentration, my talk of their potentially horrible fates seemed to be a great motivator. Once again Takahiro came through again as he raised his hand.
"Crossfire... the O's are all lined up in a way that if they miss the phantom they'll all hit each other." I found myself smiling at the boy, my hands clapping in applause. He seemed happy with the praise if not a little embarrassed by it, his cheeks dusting with a blush as he scratched his pudgy cheek in embarrassment.
"Correct, everyone must remember what's behind their target when using techniques as just like firearms crossfire can be deadly. Can anyone tell me anything else wrong with this scenario?" My question had their heads scratching as even Takahiro didn't seem to notice anything else wrong with the image. Finally, I decided to give a hint and ask a simpler question.
"When you outnumber an enemy what advantage do you have over him?" The hint seemed to spark something in Tsukasa's mind as she raised her hand.
"Endurance." She has such a way with words. And even if I found her answer too brief for anyone to glean anything from it she was still correct.
"Correct, most phantoms rely on raw power in their attacks. This works well in a one-on-one fight but when they are outnumbered fifteen to one that lack of control means their ectoplasm drains incredibly quickly. Humans are persistence hunters, our biology allows us to chase our prey to the ends of the earth. If at all possible an exorcist unit should widdle down the phantoms reserves until the thing is exhausted before delivering the final blow." This is why we started with kiting and sealing for our first lesson.
Red Team would close distance with the phantom to draw the monster's attacks lowering its ectoplasm reserves. They would also act as bait leading the phantom into Blue Team who would use sealing techniques to trap the phantom for an easy kill. This would work only in an open field and sadly Tokyo didn't have too many of those, and dense urban sprawl was not conducive for a chase when the phantom could slip away.
"Sensei... couldn't the phantom just slip away if we don't encircle it?" Akari must've read my mind because she was thinking about the same limitation to the persistence hunting strategy.
"Perhaps, but that would only be an issue if I didn't have a technique that could trap them, and because I'm invested in keeping you brats alive I've come up with one." As I spoke my body began to radiate geist, a white haze encompassing my body. Releasing the energy a white transparent dome surrounded everything around me in a ten-foot diameter.
[Barrier Field] is different from [Geist Field] in that it lacks any illusion capabilities making it easier for them to learn without compromising on protection. The size however is reduced from what a normal Geist Field can achieve and the kids seemed to notice that.
"Sensei, isn't that a bit too small?" Chizue spoke as she looked at the glowing white barrier, her thoughts probably wondering what kind of little gnome or leprechaun I intended to trap with it.
"Yes, but it has another added benefit. Charlotte can you go ahead?" The blond-haired girl nodded before her own barrier sprung to life and as it overlapped with my own the two merged into one. Now a barrier with a twenty-foot radius encompassed every student, and the gears in their heads began turning.
"Cool, if all of us use this then we can create a barrier with a 150-foot diameter!" Fumiko's giddy voice bounced off the barrier as she looked at it with a mesmerized look.
"And even better than that is the amount of geist it costs is far less than a typical geist field so it won't put much strain on any of you to maintain it either." This would allow them to trap phantoms and widdle away at them before putting them down efficiently.
"This is all well and good sensei but what if we ran into a sin-eater?" Tsukasa's mention of the S-word had the other children gasping in shock. Just like a certain no-nose wizard bloke from England, Sin-eaters are a big no-no to talk about. The rumors surrounding the brash tomboy didn't help the student's fears either as everyone knew who Ōishi Yoshinaka was. [The Mad Sword God] was the title given to the man who wanted to achieve his goal of becoming the best swordsman by any means. If she thought she could fight him now she was sadly mistaken as even me and Charlotte together would be hard-pressed to survive let alone win against him
"If you ever meet a sin-eater at your current level you should run." This was a warning for all of them as unlike the simple nature of low-tier phantoms even weak sin-eaters could be deadly to skilled exorcists due to their cunning. Their ability to use non-elemental techniques like phantoms made them hard to predict and even harder to counter. They were menaces in the world of exorcism, things only pursued by those with a death wish.
"Tch, what if I can't run?" She snapped back at my comment, her question more a threat of her intent to force herself into an inescapable situation.
"Then you better pray I'm there to save you because Sin-eaters are far more cruel than phantoms." My words seemed to stop the girl from carrying on with her combative tone as she simply humphed before looking away.
***
(Unknown POV):
I want to die.
I stood on the edge of a building, my bare feet dangling over the edge. It felt surreal, like I was just a passenger in my own body. My eyes looked out into the world like I was watching an old TV. The thundering of my heart in my chest and the heaving of my breath told the world how afraid I was.
"Why are you scared?" A quiet voice whispered in my ear as I flinched. The person's warm breath tickled my ear, and goosebumps ran down my spine.
"I-I don't wanna die." I felt relieved admitting that as my body eased up on clenching the railing with a white knuckle grip.
"Then why are you here?" The voice asked and no matter how much I tried I couldn't turn my head to see their face. My mind felt fuzzy the more I heard them speak.
"C-cause I've got nowhere to go!" Mom was dead, and Dad was busy drinking himself to death to go join her. School was shit, my grades were poor, and nobody liked a poor stupid kid so any chance at friendship went out the window. I had nothing.
"Ah I see, you're lonely." The voice sounded odd this time almost like it was on the verge of tears. "Maybe I can help."
"H-how?" I choked back a sob as my eyes misted over with unshed tears. It had been so long since someone offered to help that it felt overwhelming to receive just one positive interaction.
"You'll join my family of course." Before I could ask what the voice meant I felt a sharp needle of pain prick the back of my neck.
"Hey what was that!?" I forced my body to turn around and look at the person speaking and what I saw made me gasp in terror.
"Ah, you've seen the real me, how embarrassing!" The man covered his face with a pair of hands like an embarrassed schoolgirl. The only problem with this though is that he had another set of arms that pushed a needle in my spine. My vision grew blurry as I collapsed on the ground... my body felt tingly. The size of the world seemed to grow before I noticed a giant hand grabbing hold of me.
"[Cursed Doll]." The last words I heard filled my head as my body turned into wood my face frozen in a scream of terror. Darkness overtook my mind as I could no longer hear, touch, see, smell, or taste. The only thing I knew was that I am a doll strung on a string, and that my life will forever be in the hands of father.