"Circle my wind around my blade...then make it thinner and thinner...and concentrate…"
After getting my katana, I spent the rest of my days training in wielding a katana and fighting with blades, as well as incorporating it into my Cursed Ability combat, with my new "Wind Blade" technique. Luckily, the isolated gym in our basement is perfect for training, both Cursed Power and physical workouts alike.
I'm also sporting a semi-now outfit as well. In order to store my katana, I tied a black cloth karate-style belt around my waist, with two ends hanging down, keeping the scabbard of my katana flat against my waist and back, rather than hanging from my hip. I also rolled the sleeves of my hoodie up, and am wearing a navy blue sweat band on each arm.
Right now, I'm working on forming a mini tornado around the world to increase its slashing power.
"Yes! I got it!" I exclaim as I created a tornado around my katana, circling around its blade. But then, my celebration causes me to lose concentration, and my tornado spins out of control, exploding, and sending a powerful gust of wind fling in every direction.
"AH!" I cry as I'm sent flying into the padded gym wall behind me, ym katana clanging to the floor. "Okay…maybe I'm not to use that in combat yet," I groan as I sit up and rub my head.
"Hey...what's up everyone!" I then hear Nick call from upstairs. "I have a new mission for you all!" Hearing this, my ears perk up. I scramble to my feet, grab my katana, slide it back into its sheath, and head upstairs, where I see Nick gathered in the kitchen with the rest of my squadmates, as per usual. Time for our second mission!
"Ok, so over the past week or so, there was a boy around your age called the Pyromaniac running around in the area slaying demons," Nick begins to explain as I enter the kitchen. "Now, this may sound like a good thing, like he may be an ally, but this is not the case. First off, it's already illegal to use Cursed Power in public without a Pro Slayer license -I believe we already put in the order for yours so you will get them soon- so he already has that going for him. Second off, the Pyromaniac has been causing a lot of damage while slaying demons. He certainly doesn't seem to care about the betterment of anyone else, only the destruction of demons, and has accidentally harmed civilians and destroyed public property during his antics." Hmph, you're one to talk. "And lastly, he attacked Pro Slayers without any bit of hesitation, even beating one, so he is definitely dangerous to leave around," Nick explains.
"What's his Cursed Ability?" Austin asks. "Do we know?"
"Well, this is the funny part. He wields dual pistols that shoot out flaming, exploding bullets, but I no one has seen him use Cursed Power other than his pistols, which I'm assuming uses Cursed Power to shoot, like Austin. As of now, we've codenamed him the Pyromaniac," Nick answers.
"So he uses guns too, eh?" Austin asks. I peer over to Austin, seeing a murderous gleam in his eyes. "I'd like to fight him."
"So, Luis, Ella, and Austin, I'm dispatching you to take care of the Pyromaniac," Nick says.
"Good," Austin smirks as he does anime glasses guy thing.
"But why me?!" Ella whimpers.
I never thought that I'd ever hear myself say this, but I'm actually pretty excited for this mission. "Great, I get to test out my katana!" I say.
"Aw man!" Grover wines.
"Why don't we get to go on this mission?!" Jamie cries.
"Well, we don't really need more than three people for this mission," Nick answers.
"But…didn't the Pyromaniac beat multiple Pro Slayers by himself?" Ella shudders.
"Yeah, but those were small fries," Nick answers. "We need Austin on this mission because of his gun expertise, Ella is good on every mission, and Luis, I think he can relate to the Pyromaniac!"
"Relate to him?" I ask as I raise an eyebrow at Nick.
"You'll see what I mean soon," Nick answers with a small smile. "Now, you three better get going, the Pyromaniac is at the mall right now! He has spiky brown hair and fierce eyes, you can't miss him." Nick then peers over to the gloomy faces of Grover and Jamie and frowns, feeling bad. "You know, Grover, Jamie, I actually have a special mission for you two!" He says, causing the two to perk up.
"Really?! What is it?!" Grover and Jamie simultaneously cry.
"You know, the Lincoln Correctional Facility has been in disarray ever since Inmate Zero broke out, so I need you two to go over there and see if they need any help renovating," Nick explains.
"Renovating?" Jamie asks, raising an eyebrow at Nick.
"It's a very important mission," Nick says with a smile.
"You hear that, Jamie?! An important mission from the number one Pro Slayer himself!" Grover exclaims.
"Yeah, let's go!" Jamie cheers as Grover spawns a wormhole besides Jamie and himself leading to the Lincoln Correctional Facility, and hop inside.
"I do feel a little bad, lying to them, but I felt even worse not giving them a mission," Nick sighs, as he pinches the bridge of his nose.
"So…the Pyromaniac is already at the mall now?" I ask.
"Yup, so you better get on over there now!" Nick answers
***
"Man, what the hell! We've been patrolling for so long and have yet to find the Pyromaniac, much less a demon! My feet are getting tired!" I complain.
After Nick gave us the details of the Pyromaniac Mission, Ella, Ausin, and I headed to the mall in search of the Pyromaniac. Currently, the three of us are roaming around the bullet littered, scorched-up mall in search of the Pyromaniac, not a hint of him in sight.
"We've only been walking around for an hour and a half now. Stop complaining. It's annoying," Austin sneers.
"Do you need me to heal your feet, Luis?" Ella asks.
"No thanks, let's just take a little break," I answer, blushing at the thought of Ella giving us a foot massage.
"May I remind you of the last time you tried taking a break?" Austins sneers.
"No, dad, you don't," I sigh as I roll my eyes.
The three of us continue wandering around the mall, earning some weird looks from the NPCs. Others cheered for us.
"Look, it's the Pro Slayers!"
"Cool, they're here to stop that fire kid!"
"Aren't they a little young to be Pro Slayers?"
"They love us!" Ella says with a smile.
"Good, get me some recognition," Austin smirks as he does the anime glasses guy thing.
"Excuse me!" I hear a voice say, and I peer down to where I heard the voice, seeing a little boy run up to me. I gulp. I'm not good at dealing with kids.
"Aw, cute!" Ella swoons.
"Uhh..what is it?" I grunt.
"I wanna be just like you when I grow up!" The little boy exclaims, before running away from the three of us, back to his family. Ella smiles. I raise an eyebrow and place a hand on my hip, smiling as well.
Ella, Austin, and I keep wandering around the wall for a little while longer, until we hear a scream.
"Hey, doesn't that sound like the little boy from earlier?!" Ella cries.
"What if it's a demon?! Let's go!" Austin shouts.
"Already ahead of you!" I roar as I crouch down, getting into a running position. "I've been working on this for a while now!" I say as wind begins wrapping around my ankles. "Try to keep up!" I shout as I take off running, using the wind around my ankles to propel me forwards.
I zoom over to the direction from which I heard the boy scream, eventually locating him. The young boy is curled up in the corner crying as a huge demon looms over him. "Looks to be a level one demon," I say as I dash over to the boy.
The demon lets out a mighty roar as it swings a muscular limp towards the boy, who screams in pain. But just in the nick of time, like a superhero, I swoop in and grab the boy, carrying him safely away from the demon, who's mighty arm slams into the ground below where the boy just as, forming a crater in the earth. Just as I do, a flaming red flash swoops in overhead and slams into the demon, who lets out a howl of pain before crumbling to the ground.
"You okay kid, go find your parents and get the Hell out of here!" I cry as I set the kid back on the ground. The little boy nods, rubbing the tears from his eyes, before turning around and running away. Ugh, I feel just like Nick. I also accidentally Cursed in front of the kid, but whatever. I then stand up and face the mysterious red flash who swooped in and killed the demon.
Who I saw, certainly wasn't Ella or Austin, nor was it anyone I know. It was a guy around my age, about 5'7 or so, with spiky dark brown hair and intense, fierce light brown eyes that almost gleamed red.
The Pyromaniac.